The result will be viewed as a strong endorsement of Mohamad, who had served as menteri besar of his home state of Negeri Sembilan for 14 years.
He had won the seat by default at the general election last year when his rival, anesthesist Dr Streram Sinnasamy (PH-PKR), was barred from entering the nomination centre to file his papers.
Streram successfully mounted a court challenge and overturned Mohamad’s election.
Mohamad’s victory tonight was his fourth against a PKR rival since 2004.
At a press conference minutes after being declared the winner, Mohamad said that the majority of support for the coalition came from the youth.
“We will be the check and balance against the PH-led state government.”
Rantau by-election 2019
Official results:
| Mohamad Hasan (BN-Umno) | 10,397 |
| Streram Sinnasamy (PH-PKR) | 5,887 |
| Malar Rajaram (Ind) | 83 |
| Mohd Nor Yassin (Ind) | 79 |
| Majority | 4,510 |
| Total votes cast | 16,640 |
Two other candidates, Malar Rajaram and Mohd Nor Yassin, both independent, polled 83 and 79 votes respectively, and will lose their deposits for not securing a minimum of one-eighth of the votes case.
The turnout for the by-election was 79.3%, surpassing the record of 73.35% in Semenyih last month which was also won by BN.
Rantau, a Malay-majority seat, is one of 36 seats in the Negeri Sembilan state legislative assembly, where PH holds 20 seats and BN 16.
Seven by-elections have been held since the general election of May 2018. Barisan Nasional had won in Cameron Highlands (parliamentary) and Semenyih, while Pakatan Harapan won in Port Dickson (parliamentary), Seri Setia, Balakong and Sungai Kandis.