Think tank: Easy win for BN, but all eyes on Pejuang

SLIM POLLS | A survey of 502 voters for the Slim by-election has think tank Ilham Centre predicting an easy victory for BN but all eyes will be on former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's new party Pejuang.

The think tank said if the Pejuang-backed candidate Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi can retain the vote share achieved by Pakatan Harapan during the 2018 election, or not lose his deposit, then the latest Malay-based party would have achieved a victory of its own.

"It would place them as a (significant) party in the national political landscape," it said in a statement today.

Pejuang was announced on Aug 12, but it has yet to be formally registered. Its candidate for the Slim polls, Amir, 38, is a lawyer running as an independent. He is also a political novice without any ties to the constituency.

In 2018, the Slim seat was won by a BN candidate who took 44.83 percent of the vote share followed by Harapan (33.1 percent) and PAS (22.1 percent).

According to Ilham Centre, Pejuang had succeeded in using the by-election campaign to draw public attention to its wider campaign against its main target - Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

"This campaign is a platform for Pejuang to promote itself. It is also picking low hanging fruits by recruiting Bersatu members into its ranks," the think tank added.

It said survey results indicated that Malay voters are mostly supportive of the Muafakat Nasional coalition but not Bersatu.

"Based on the interviews (with voters), the respondents support Muafakat and do not view Bersatu as a party which completes the coalition.

"It was also observed that Bersatu's election machinery operates separately (from PAS and Umno) and appeared to be sidelined by the Muafakat campaign," Ilham Centre said. 

Bersatu had only recently been accepted to the Muafakat fold, who in turn are part of the greater Perikatan Nasional coalition.

Ilham Centre said Chinese voters appeared split. Those who are supportive of Harapan will be inclined to vote for Pejuang while there are those who blamed Harapan's downfall on Mahathir.

As for Indian voters, it said these voters are firmly behind BN because of the help received during the movement control order period.

Orang Asli voters are likely to continue voting for BN although they did not report receiving significant help, it added. 

The survey involved face-to-face interviews and the respondents were selected through random stratified sampling to reflect the voter make up.

Slim will go to polls tomorrow. - Mkini