Support for Pakatan soared, says UMCEDEL

BN only manage to maintain its support base in the region of 40% to 49%.

K. Pragalath, FMT

According to a study by a university research centre, the support for Pakatan Rakyat has increased tremendously since 2011 till the 13th general election; where else Barisan Nasional’s support base is somewhat the same.

A series of surveys conducted by University Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMCEDEL) since 2011 revealed that Pakatan only had 18% support in 2011 compared to BN’s 43%.

BN’s support base was highest during the first quarter of 2012 at 49% but Pakatan only received 21% during the same period.

The third survey carried out during the first fortnight of September 2012 revealed the beginning of BN’s support declining to 44% whereas support for Pakatan rose to 30%.

During the last quarter of 2012, BN had 42% support compared to Pakatan’s 37%.

The number of undecided voters reduced from 39% in 2011 to 21% in the last quarter of 2012.

On nomination day for the 13th general election that was held on April 20, Pakatan had the majority support of the people. A total of 5% of the undecided voters supported Pakatan.

That gave an edge for Pakatan against the ruling coalition with 48% support. BN was trailing with 43%. Nine percent of the voters were still undecided.

On May 5 polling day, BN received three percent support of the undecided voters and obtained 46% votes. On the other hand Pakatan received a boost of five percent vote swing to gain 53% of the popular vote.

However the final outcome of the 13th general election saw BN winning 133 parliamentary seats. Pakatan only clinched 89 out of the 222 parliamentary seats in total.