KUALA LUMPUR - Recounts of votes in Malaysia's 11th general election have brought about two reversals: Kelantan has been won by PAS and not the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), and the opposition Keadilan's Dr Wan Azizah has retained her seat in the federal Parliament.
These reversals took place even as Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was sworn in to a five-year term as Malaysia's fifth prime minister in a solemn ceremony.
The results of the recounts mean that it wasn't as clean a sweep by his ruling Barisan Nasional coalition as reports based on projections have said.
Kelantan, which the Muslim fundamentalist PAS has ruled since 1990, will continue to be under opposition control. Trengganu, which till this election was also PAS controlled, went back to BN on Sunday night.
In Kelantan late on Sunday night, initial election results had dealt PAS a narrow loss, but the Election Commission announced it had agreed to recount the ballots in eight seats where voting was very close - close enough to swing control of the state assembly either way.
Over in Penang, the wife of jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah, was also returned to her Permatang Pauh seat after winning on a recount of the votes.
She defeated the BN's candidate, Mohamad Pirdaus Ismail, by 590 votes after ballots were counted for a fourth time following Sunday's elections.
The initial count at the close of polls on Sunday had her as a loser by a mere 36 votes. Political observers had said the Anwar factor was truly buried, and Keadilan was history, having lost all five federal seats it was contesting.
Her majority of 590 is, however, a significant reduction from her 1999 performance, when she managed to have more than 9,000 votes more than her challenger from BN. -- AP
from losing 36 votes to winning 590 votes after recount. gez, sibei kelong, be it before or after the recount. 
