Anwar's PH suffers big loss in Negeri Sembilan state election as minister Anthony Loke loses seat

Malaysia's Transport Minister and Secretary-General of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Anthony Loke, has lost his seat in the election for the state of Negri Sembilan.

According to Free Malaysia Today, he narrowly lost his bid for a third term in the constituency of Chennah by 688 votes to the Youth chief of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Siew Kong Chun, who was running as part of Barisan Nasional's (BN) coalition.

Considering giving up is position as state chairman

Following his defeat, Loke said he was considering reliquishing his position as DAP state chairman in Negri Sembilan, The Star reported.

As for his position as Secretary-General of the DAP, Loke added:

"Before I make a decision, as far as my role as the DAP secretary-general, of course I will discuss further with the DAP central executive committee on our way forward,” he added."

Loke was one of two heavyweights from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's ruling coalition, Pakatan Harapan (PH), that was defeated in the Negri Sembilan state election, with DAP a member party of the coalition.

The other figure was Aminuddin Harun, PH's state chairman and Chief Minister of Negri Sembilan, in the constituency of Linggi, where he had been chief minister for two years.

His defeat came after moving to there from Sikamat, a constituency he had held for four terms since 2008.

He lost by 2,976 votes to Faizal Ramli from BN.

In total, BN won 25 out the state's 36 seats, together with its ally Perikatan Nasional (PN), while PH won 11 seats, down from 17 seats in the previous 2023 election.