Khaled: Loyal Umno voter base is shrinking

Umno has admitted that the number of its loyal voters has not increased, despite the fact that the electoral roll increases every six months.

(NST) – Party vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said new voters preferred not to join any political party but were played a big part in elections.

As such, he said Umno needs to employ the right approach in order to ensure that this category of voters feels the party’s presence in the community.

“It’s not like before… our loyal voter base is shrinking. The demographics show that younger voters make up 60 per cent in every area.

“For instance, in Pasir Gudang, we have 20,000 Umno members but there are 200,000 registered voters. This will likely soon increase to 250,000, but the number of Umno members will remain at 20,000.

“(So), Umno needs to ensure that we are seen and that our presence is felt. We need to think carefully about how we approach things… we need to ensure that our stand is attractive to these new voters,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after the Johor chapter of the Council of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak) and Umno veterans Hari Raya open house yesterday.

Meanwhile, Khaled said there was no one party in the country which could work alone after the 15th General Election (GE15).

He said Barisan Nasional, from the start, had been a multi-party coalition.

“It was the same for PKR and DAP, which formed Pakatan Harapan so they didn’t have to work alone.

“If you want to stand alone in a general election, there’s no problem, but you won’t be able to form the government by yourself, because the demographics right now in terms of the composition of the people is varied… there is no absolute majority for any race.

“In today’s political context, there is no possibility of a political party working in silo. So, we must think about who we should work with to ensure that Umno and BN will continue to exist,” he said.