7 states, Federal Territory will fall to PH-PAS, says survey

Selangor think-tank survey of 4,486 voters in Peninsular Malaysia indicates a Pakatan Harapan-PAS opposition front garnering 59% support from electorate.

SHAH ALAM: A recent survey by the Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) has found that the opposition stands a chance of winning seven states and the Federal Territory (FT) in Peninsular Malaysia.

This is if Pakatan Harapan (PH) and PAS collaborate to face the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the upcoming 14th general election (GE14).

The Selangor government think-tank’s deputy chairman Mohamad Redzuan Othman said besides Kelantan, Selangor and Penang, which were already governed by PH, the states that could be wrested from BN were Perak, Kedah, Pahang and Melaka.

The face-to-face survey, conducted from Aug 11-15, involved 4,486 respondents, who were registered voters in 130 of the 165 parliamentary constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia.

Redzuan said 59% of the respondents voiced support for PH and PAS, while 39% were for BN.

He said the combined support for the opposition, involving PAS and PH components PKR, DAP, Amanah and PPBM, was large enough to enable them to take control of the states.

Speaking at a press conference at the IDE office here today, he said the outcome of the survey also showed BN would not be able to achieve a two-thirds majority in Peninsular Malaysia.

On the possible timing of GE14, Redzuan, who is also Universiti Selangor (Unisel) vice-chancellor, said Prime Minister Najib Razak may schedule it based on two factors.

This depends first on the people’s “mood” in light of the country’s performance at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games this month, and secondly the the state of the opposition parties at present.

“The desired mood is euphoria among the people. A good gold medal tally in the SEA Games will result in an overall good mood,” he said.

Malaysia achieved its target of 111 gold medals tonight.

“However, that is not enough to have a (winnable) general election.

“There is one more issue — which are the quarrels breaking out among opposition parties.”

He said when both these aspects worked in BN’s favour, it would surely present the best time for the ruling coalition to hold the election. -FMT