Can a stronger BN make inroads into PH’s Kuala Lumpur stronghold?

 

An analyst said PH could not afford to be complacent with urban seats as voters’ sentiment this time around was different.

PETALING JAYA: With the 15th general election (GE15) on Saturday, it remains to be seen if a stronger Barisan Nasional (BN) will be able to make inroads into Kuala Lumpur, an opposition stronghold.

BN’s fortunes seem to have flipped since the 2018 general election (GE14), with the coalition successfully sweeping 40 of the 56 state seats in the Johor polls and 21 out of the 28 seats in the Melaka elections.

In GE14, the opposition made a sweep of all seats in Kuala Lumpur, leaving BN in the dust.

DAP secured Kepong (Lim Lip Eng), Segambut (Hannah Yeoh), Bukit Bintang (Fong Kui Lun), Seputeh (Teresa Kok) and Cheras (Tan Kok Wai).

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PKR won Batu (P Prabakaran), Wangsa Maju (Tan Yee Kew), Setiawangsa (Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad), Lembah Pantai (Fahmi Fadzil), and Bandar Tun Razak (Kamarudin Jaffar).

Titiwangsa was won by Bersatu’s Rina Harun.

In Putrajaya, BN’s firm grip is shown by Tengku Adnan Mansor remaining as a four-term MP of the constituency since 2004.

Analyst Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said PH could not afford to be complacent with urban seats, including Titiwangsa, Lembah Pantai and Wangsa Maju as voters’ sentiment this time around was “totally different”.

Azmi said during the pandemic, over 580,000 households from the M40 group had slipped into the B40 category due to the economic downturn, thus bread and butter issues were most critical for urban voters.

“Voters in these areas will likely vote for a candidate from a party which they think will be part of the federal government, to champion their cause,” he told FMT, adding that loyalty to a party was rarely a strong factor for the urban electorate.

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Azmi predicted that PH would still retain Kuala Lumpur, but with a reduced majority. BN would comfortably win Putrajaya again, he added. - FMT