BN in hard-fought polls battle

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http://my.news.yahoo.com/triumphant-bn-seen-losing-popular-vote-195835054.html

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional (BN) survived a hard-fought polls battle in face of “Chinese tsunami” yesterday, but rival Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has vowed to fight the result following allegations of widespread fraud.

Despite being returned to power with 133 seats from the 222-seat Parliament, BN may have lost the popular vote in Election 2013.

With all results in, BN polled 5.220 million votes to Pakatan Rakyat’s 5.489 million, for a deficit of 269,130 votes based on calculations by The Malaysian Insider.

The Election Commission has yet to release the official results.

The last time an Umno-led coalition lost the popular vote was in 1969, then contested by BN's predecessor, the Alliance Party.

The BN chairman admitted it had not expected the wholesale abandonment by the Chinese community, which he blamed on the Pakatan Rakyat’s alleged play on racial sentiments to woo support from the country’s second largest ethnic group.

“I expected it but I did not expect it to this extent. None of us expected it to this extent. But despite the extent of the swing against us, BN did not fall,” he added.

At a separate press conference, PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the pact rejected the results of the poll, pointing to unanswered allegations on electoral fraud.

“As of now, we are not accepting the results... until the EC (Election Commission) responds and issues an official statement to the allegations of irregularities and fraud,” he told reporters.

Najib urged Malaysians and leaders in the federal opposition to accept tonight’s results “with an open heart”, and warned against any street demonstrations to protest the outcome.

He said BN will establish a mechanism to look into all the promises it made during campaigning to ensure that these will be implemented in full.

“One of the things we will do is the process of national reconciliation,” he said, noting the trend in Chinese support for the opposition.

“Overall, the decision made by the rakyat shows a certain trend in votes that worries the government because if it is not handled well, it could create tension and conflicts in our country,” he said.

“We can reject the politics of extremism and racism, and work towards more moderate policies for the country,” he added.