IPOH: The 13th general election results in Perak make one thing very clear — the rivalry between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat will remain as intense as ever, what with the former retaining control of the silver state with a simple majority of only three seats. And, the sparring parties are essentially Umno and the DAP.

The BN won 31 state seats, with Umno’s share being a hefty 30 and MCA’s, one. Pakatan secured 28 seats, with DAP grabbing the lion’s share of 18 seats, while PKR and PAS have five seats each.

BN component parties Gerakan and PPP, which also contested for state seats in Perak, were wiped out while MCA managed to retain its Chenderiang state seat.

It will be a major challenge for the BN state government to put together a broadly representative executive council to handle the electorate with different needs.

The main characters in the 2009 Perak crisis, which ended with BN taking over the state after the defection of three Pakatan state assembly members, will face one another in the state assembly again.

Perak BN chairman Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and his Pakatan counterpart Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin both retained Pangkor and Changkat Jering respectively.

However, former state executive councillor Datuk Hamidah Osman lost the Sungai Rapat state seat to PAS’ Mohd Radzi Zainon by 2,638 votes.

A glance at the results showed that although Umno lost in Sungai Rapat, it managed to wrest four seats from PAS and PKR, namely Changkat Jong, Lubok Merbau, Pasir Panjang and Behrang.

In 2008, PAS won Lubok Merbau with a slim 72-vote majority; in this election, Umno won the seat by 178 votes, proving that the battle in this Malay heartland was a tight one for Umno and PAS.

PKR lost the Behrang seat probably due to a last-minute change in candidate. Former Tanjong Malim division chief Major (Rtd) Kamal Badri was initially tipped to be the candidate but after being dropped, he ended up contesting as an independent.

But then Umno also had a strong candidate in Perak Wanita chief Datuk Rusnah Kassim who took on PKR’s General (Rtd) Abdul Hadi Abdul Khatab in Behrang.

As for Perak’s parliamentary seats, both BN and Pakatan have an equal share of 12 seats each.

The Kuala Kangsar seat that had captured the interest of observers since nomination day was won by Umno’s Datuk Wan Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad by 1,082 votes.

Former Wanita Umno deputy chief Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim, who contested as an independent, only managed to get 447 votes and lost her deposit.

Former ministers, namely Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datoh), Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah (Tambun) and Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (Padang Rengas) all successfully retained their parliamentary seats.

Umno’s BN partners were not so lucky. In fact, MCA suffered a severe setback, losing six out of the seven parliamentary seats it contested in Perak. The party lost again in Ipoh Timor, Ipoh Barat, Gopeng and Batu Gajah. It was defeated in Kampar and Lumut (which the party won in 2008) and now only has Tanjong Malim, which was won by Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan by 4,328 votes.

The MIC managed to retain the Tapah parliamentary seat but again failed to secure Sungai Siput, which former party president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu lost in 2008.

Three Gerakan leaders, national deputy chairman Datuk Chang Ko Youn, vice-president Datuk Mah Siew Keong and Wanita chief Tan Lian Hoe who contested in Beruas, Teluk Intan and Taiping, respectively also took a beating from DAP.

On the Pakatan side, DAP won all seven parliamentary seats it contested, while PKR retained Gopeng and Sungai Siput but lost Bagan Serai; PAS maintained its two parliamentary seats in Perak.

The results showed that Umno and DAP are the biggest winners in this heated race. However, a more detailed study will show the significance of underlying trends in the voting.

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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 7, 2013.