Fresh faces a sign that young voters can be ‘kingmakers’, says analyst

 

The power of young voters is evident based on the list of candidates named by parties contesting in the Johor state elections, says Amir Fareed Rahim.

PETALING JAYA: The fact that 70% of the candidates in the upcoming Johor state elections are fresh faces shows the power of young voters, a political analyst said today.

Calling them “kingmakers”, KRA Group strategy director Amir Fareed Rahim said the emergence of new young voters in the state elections had made many major political parties consider fielding young candidates.

“Some 70% of the candidates from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional are fresh faces in the polls. Everyone from Muda is also a fresh face.

“This is a remarkable improvement, especially for older parties like BN, where for many years before 2018, there was only talk but no action on giving way to new faces in the polls. We are now seeing this in 2022.

“The power of new voters ensures to a large extent that political parties pander to these groups,” he said in a webinar titled “Johor Polls: Emergence of a New Power?”

The webinar also featured two other speakers, namely Johor Umno deputy chief Nur Jazlan Mohamed and Muda vice-president Dr Thanussha Francis Xavier.

According to Amir, political parties should engage new voters through social media, adding that this was how young voters were communicating and consuming information.

He added that these platforms were also not text-heavy compared with news articles.

“Engaging voters through social media will help parties get their policies and narratives out to the people,” he said, adding that it would also cut across all rural and urban young voters.

The March 12 elections will be the first in which voters aged 18 to 20 will cast their ballots. This is in accordance with a 2019 constitutional amendment that lowered the voting age to 18.

Election Commission deputy chairman Azmi Sharom was recently quoted as saying that about 6% of the 2.5 million voters in Johor were from the “Undi18 segment”.

The latest electoral roll, gazetted in January, includes those who turned 18 on Dec 31.

Johor will go to the polls on March 12 with early voting taking place on March 8, and nomination day set for Feb 26. - FMT