GE14: Swing in Malay voters not enough for PH to take over
(FMT) – Ilham Centre says this was the result of 6 months’ of interviews in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Perlis, Perak and Selangor.
A research centre has found the dissatisfaction among PAS and Umno voters is growing but it is not enough for Pakatan Harapan to take over Putrajaya in the 14th general election (GE14).
Ilham Centre executive director Hisommudin Bakar said this was the finding from their six months’ of in-depth interviews in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Perlis, Perak and Selangor.
He said the interviews were broken down into six groups, among them youths, Umno supporters, PH supporters and Wanita.
He said the sentiments were different according to the state.
“In Terengganu, Umno village heads are frustrated that they are unable to answer claims by the opposition on the cost of living.
“PAS members in Kelantan feel the state government is not doing enough for Orang Asli and to reduce flash floods,” he told reporters after a forum on the Election Commission’s delineation exercise.
He said the voters feel the Pakatan Harapan must field capable candidates in the two states.
“They are still not familiar with PPBM. But if big names are fielded to contest, there may be support,” said Hisommudin.
As for Kedah, he said voters from Kubang Pasu, Langkawi, Pokok Sena and Kuala Kedah still preferred the opposition.
“But if you go to other parts like Padang Terap, Sik, Baling and other areas, BN is still strong.”
As for Johor, Hisommudin said Pakatan Harapan seems to be strong along the North-South Expressway route in the state but “other than that Umno still seems to be strong”.
In Perak, he said there would be a “tight fight” as the northern part of Perak, such as in Bukit Gantang and Taiping, and the central part of Perak still seemed to favour the opposition.
“But the southern part of Perak seems to have more BN supporters,” he added.
As for Selangor, he said the urban voters are likely to vote for PH while the rural voters are likely to vote for BN.
“Urban voters in Selangor are used to the idea of having the opposition as their state government. So the voters are likely to vote for PH.”
But he said constituencies like Tanjung Karang, Sg Besar and other rural areas are likely to be won by BN.
As for Chinese and Indians voters, he said they are expected to vote largely for the opposition.
He said the end result of their research was that more Malays would support PH but the numbers were still small for them to take over Putrajaya.
