Political insiders said SNAP is relying in family and ethnic ties in winning support. The election boundaries of rural constituencies also closely follow ethnic demography where seats can be easily identified as Iban, Melanau, and Bidayuh or Orang Ulu majority.

While DAP is making steady headway in the 15 Chinese-majority seats it is contesting in the Sarawak elections, Pakatan Rayat partner PKR is bogged down fighting two enemies — Barisan Nasional (BN) and SNAP — at once.

SNAP is contesting in 25 seats, all of which are multi-cornered and expected to badly split the opposition vote, allowing BN to sail smoothly to victory.

In the 2006 state election, SNAP and PKR contested in straight fights in which the former did better in terms of votes secured, although both parties eventually came away with just a seat each in the 71-seat state assembly.

Then, SNAP managed to get between 30 and 40 per cent of the votes in the Iban and Bidayuh majority seats it contested but polled fewer votes in Melanau majority seats.

This means that if SNAP, which is contesting the same seats again along with PKR, manages to keep the votes it received in 2006, PKR is headed for disaster in many of the Iban, Bidayuh and Melanau majority seats.

If those who voted for SNAP in 2006 back the party once more, the opposition votes would be heavily split between it and PKR, giving BN easy victories albeit with smaller majorities.

Political analysts say this was why PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been trying to convince voters indirectly that voting for SNAP would be like voting for BN, as the final outcome would be the same.

Anwar has been coy in his delivery, but the allusion is that SNAP was resurrected by BN with the express purpose of leeching votes away from opposition pact in 25 selected Iban and Bidayuh majority seats.

SNAP has, however, vehemently denied the allegations now widely reported in blogs, Internet news portals and social media outlets.

Political insiders said SNAP is relying in family and ethnic ties in winning support. The election boundaries of rural constituencies also closely follow ethnic demography where seats can be easily identified as Iban, Melanau, and Bidayuh or Orang Ulu majority.

While there are mixed constituencies, these are a product of urbanisation and most located in urban centres or near it.

A PKR-SNAP compromise, one which gives the oldest party in Sarawak 15 spots to contest while allocating the rest to the West Malaysia-based party, would have given both a better chance at winning some.

PKR would have been on a better footing to improve on its sole win in 2006 by inheriting the 25 to 40 per cent in opposition support that is inherent and habitually simmering in the rural constituencies.

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