Poll: PAS will do badly in 3-way contests in GE14

Invoke survey shows PAS will come in last behind Umno and Amanah in Malay-majority areas.

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional (BN) will have the advantage in three-cornered contests in Malay-majority areas in the coming 14th general election (GE14).

This was according to the findings of a poll by Invoke involving 10,000 voters. It was carried out among registered voters picked randomly by computer from Feb 6 to April 6 this year in Malay-majority constituencies.

Invoke, a Pakatan Harapan policy research initiative, also found out during the two-month-long telephone survey that PAS would get fewer votes than Amanah, formed in 2015 by breakaway PAS leaders.

Non-Malays, who voted for PAS in the last two general elections, would shun it in GE14, the survey results revealed.

This was because the Islamist party had opted out of the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition, comprising PKR, DAP, Amanah and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

The findings, released today, came on the heels of a warning by PAS that it would field candidates in seats that Pakatan Harapan planned to contest.

PAS vice-president Iskandar Abdul Samad said yesterday the party was “free” to challenge DAP, PKR and Amanah in contests in Selangor if the opposition parties failed to agree on seat distribution among them.

PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was also reported to have said the party would not cooperate with Pakatan Harapan in GE14. He said PAS’ talks with PPBM were still fruitless.

Invoke coordinator Rafizi Ramli, who is PKR vice-president, said Amanah was expected to garner 3.6% more votes than PAS if they faced off in three-cornered contests.

“However, Umno would top the total vote count, taking 32.2%, with Amanah receiving 16.1% and PAS only 12.5%,” he said in announcing the poll findings.

Rafizi said 3.2% of those polled responded they would not vote in GE14 while about 20% did not respond and 16% were undecided.

A total of 1.67 million registered voters were contacted via telephone. Of the number, 116,922 people responded to the pollsters but only 10,523 people answered all the 40 questions put to them. FMT