By Karen Bong and Chris Lidom
KUCHING, Nov 19: Democratic Action Party (DAP) heavyweight incumbent Chong Chieng Jen has successfully fended off challenger Lo Khere Chiang of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to keep P196 Stampin seat for the second term.
Chong won the seat with a 7,158 majority in a three-cornered fight. He polled 39,310 votes to beat Lo who obtained 32,152 votes while Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s (PBK) Lue Cheng Hing who contested under Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) logo with only 2,291 votes.
Despite a massive effort from GPS and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP), Lo has failed to oust Chong in the closely watched race for the semi-urban parliamentary seat which SUPP was so determined to wrest from its principal rival DAP.
Earlier, before Chong headed off to the ballot counting centre at Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) to collect the official result, he conveyed his gratitude and thanked the voters and supporters for their efforts in the past 14 days of campaigning which has contributed to this historical success.
The massive turnouts at most of DAP’s ceramahs over the past two weeks of campaigning have been translated to votes apparently tonight. In addition, youth votes could have given DAP a big boost.
Stampin has a total of 121,009 registered voters, which is more than twice the number recorded in 2018.
“We have successfully defended Stampin and P195 Bandar Kuching. We have also defended P192 Mas Gading.
“Sadly, we could not make it in P199 Serian but we managed to capture P212 Sibu and P211 Lanang.
“For Kuching site, myself and (Dr) Kelvin (Yii), we would like to thank you once again and hope that you will stay with us as this is part of the journey of reform,” he said at the DAP Sarawak headquarters.
Chong, who is also Padungan assemblyman, emphasised that the road to finally reform Malaysia is still a long way to go.
“Whether we can make it to Putrajaya is yet to be seen,” he said, referring to the final results of the GE15. — DayakDaily
