BARISAN Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) have won the 16th Negeri Sembilan state election, according to unofficial results as of 8.30pm.
UMNO secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki claimed BN and PN had won enough seats — 18 and five respectively, for a combined 23 — to clear the 19-seat threshold and form the next state government.
The win came at the expense of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) two most senior figures. DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook, who had held Chennah since 2013 and was seeking a fourth term, lost the seat to BN’s Siow Kong Choon by fewer than 500 votes.
Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun fared little better. Rather than defending his safe seat of Sikamat, he had chosen to contest Linggi, a BN stronghold, in a bid to unseat the incumbent. That gamble backfired. Aminuddin was trailing BN’s Datuk Mohd Faizal Ramli by more than 1,600 votes as counting continued.
BN candidates opened wide leads in Rantau, Palong, Gemencheh, Juasseh, Seri Menanti and Pertang, with Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s margin in Rantau alone stretching past 10,000 votes.
PH was not without bright spots. Nicole Tan Lee Koon built a lead of more than 17,000 votes in Bukit Kepayang, while Chew Seh Yong and Teo Kok Seong held commanding margins in Lobak and Bahau respectively. Repah remained the night’s closest contest, with fewer than 100 votes separating the two sides at one stage.
Voting had closed at 6pm, with 103 candidates having contested across all 36 seats, this time without the PH-BN pact that delivered a joint two-thirds majority in 2023. PH ran alone in every seat, while BN shared 25 seats with PAS-led PN under a fresh electoral arrangement.
Turnout stood at 65.38% as of 4pm, ahead of the 61.89% recorded at the same point in 2023, with the Election Commission having projected a final figure of between 72% and 75%. — Aug 1, 2026
