Wawasan’s polls victory built on borrowed strength, say analysts

 While its success will strengthen the role of party president Hamzah Zainudin, the newly-formed party's victory is seen as being largely driven by PN support and PAS machinery.

Hamzah Zainudin’s Wawasan made a strong electoral debut in the Negeri Sembilan election, winning three of the four seats it contested.

PETALING JAYA:

Wawasan’s three-seat haul in its electoral debut in the Negeri Sembilan election is likely to strengthen Hamzah Zainudin’s position within Perikatan Nasional, but analysts say the party’s success was driven more by the PN brand and coalition machinery than its own grassroots strength.

Political scientist Awang Azman Pawi of Universiti Malaya cited the party’s success in Gemas as one example of a victory that resulted from a combination of “incumbency, the PN platform and the absence of a BN challenger”.

He contrasted this with Mambau, where Wawasan’s candidate trailed DAP heavily in the mixed constituency, which he said suggested the party had yet to build meaningful independent support among urban Chinese and Indian voters.

In Gemas, Ridzuan Ahmad of Wawasan was handily re-elected to the seat which he had previously won while with Bersatu. However, in Mambau, the Wawasan candidate, Erik Michael, finished 12,103 votes behind DAP’s Lee Kai Yet.

Awang Azman told FMT: “Wawasan contested under the PN banner, benefited from PAS endorsement, avoided BN competition and relied considerably on established BN and PAS networks.

“Consequently, it has demonstrated electoral usefulness, but not yet an independent grassroots machinery comparable with PAS or Umno.”

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer Mazlan Ali said Wawasan’s candidates would not have been able to compete as effectively without the benefit of PAS support and the wider PN machinery, indicating that Wawasan is dependent on PAS to achieve electoral success.

“Its good relationship with PAS and position as a PN component were the key factors behind the success of several of its candidates in Negeri Sembilan,” he said.

Wawasan won in Gemas, Sikamat and Klawang in the Negeri Sembilan election.

The party was formed by Hamzah after he was expelled from Bersatu as deputy president following a leadership tussle and was formally accepted into PN in July over the objection of Bersatu, which questioned the process and legality of the decision.

Awang Azman and Mazlan both said that the Negeri Sembilan results would strengthen Wawasan’s claim to inherit Bersatu’s position as the principal non-Islamic partner of PAS.

However, it would remain the “more cooperative junior partner rather than as an equal political force”, Awang Azman said.

Mazlan added that Bersatu’s weak performance could eventually force the party to leave PN or be sidelined, as it no longer appeared to command electoral support within the coalition. “At future elections, the seats previously contested by Bersatu are likely to be handed to Wawasan to contest,” he said.

Awang Azman said the election showed that coordinated candidacies could consolidate Malay votes, weaken Bersatu and reduce multi-cornered contests.

However, Wawasan could not expect a large share of seats simply based on its Negeri Sembilan performance. “It will have to prove that it can develop branches, recruit credible candidates and deliver votes without relying completely upon PAS and BN,” Awang Azman said. - FMT