Election guidelines state that losing candidates are entitled to a recount should the margin of victory for the leading candidate be less than 4%.

A statement from Tengku Razaleigh’s office said that the returning officer in Gua Musang had rejected a request for a representative of Tengku Razaleigh.

The veteran politician, who is known as Ku Li, lost by just 163 votes to Azizi Abu Naim of PAS, who secured 21,826 votes.

Razaleigh, 85, was seeking a 13th term. He managed to secure only 21,663 votes in a four-cornered fight.

He has been Gua Musang MP since 1974 when the constituency was named Ulu Kelantan. In 2018, he won by a majority of 3,913 votes against two others from PAS and PKR.

Last year, he told FMT that he would bow out of politics after GE15.