KUALA LUMPUR - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is among 369 parliamentary candidates who lost their deposits after obtaining less than one-eighth of the total number of votes in the 15th General Election (GE15).
The former prime minister, who contested in Langkawi on Pejuang ticket, failed to defend the seat for the second term, securing only 4,566 votes out of 48,123 votes in a five-cornered contest.
Apart from Dr Mahathir, who is also Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) protem chairman, other senior Pejuang leaders who lost their deposits are his son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir who failed to defend the Jerlun seat after losing to Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Dr Abd Ghani Ahmad, and GTA deputy chairman Datuk Marzuki Yahya in his attempt to wrest the Sungai Petani seat from Pakatan Harapan (PH).
This most intense election also saw several other 'big names' losing their deposits, including former Minister of Plantation Industry and Commodities Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin, who secured only 4,589 votes and former Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin (1,939 votes).
Apart from the big names in politics, among the celebrity candidates and social activists who lost their deposits are film director Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri who contested in Port Dickson as a GTA candidate and Abdul Rani Kulup Abdullah, who contested as an Independent candidate.
Meanwhile, the contest for the Batu parliamentary seat saw the biggest number of candidates losing their deposits. Ten candidates contested for the seat and eight of them lost their deposits.
They are Independent candidates Siti Zabedah Kasim, Nur Fathiah Syazwana Shaharuddin, also known as Cleopatra, Chua Tian Chang, Too Cheng Huat, Wan Azliana Wan Adnan (Pejuang), Naganathan Pillai (Warisan), Mohd Zulkifli Abdul Fattah (Party Rakyat Malaysia) and Datuk A. Kohilan Pillay (Barisan Nasional).
This GE also saw PH candidate Gobind Singh Deo securing the highest number of votes of 142,875 for the Damansara parliamentary seat, defeating two challengers, both losing their deposits.
Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) candidate Roy Angau Anak Gingkoi won with the smallest majority of only 100 votes when he got 6,644 votes in a four-cornered fight for the Lubok Antu parliamentary seat. One of them lost the deposit.
However, these 369 candidates did not include those in the contest for the Kota Marudu seat in Sabah, where the results could not be announced due to adverse weather, and Baram in Sarawak where voting in 11 polling centres was suspended, also due to the weather.
Meanwhile, the contest for state seats saw a total of 129 out of 441 candidates vying in the state elections in Pahang, Perlis and Perak, losing their deposits.
Candidates are required to pay deposits of RM10,000 to contest for a parliamentary seat and RM5,000 for a state seat. - BERNAMA