Selangor polls: Rafizi predicts Harapan to win 45 seats, lose 8

 

PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli expects Pakatan Harapan will be able to win at least 45 Selangor assembly seats if the party’s machinery works hard in the coming state election.

Seeing it as a realistic target, he said it was based on the factor of voters who are “economically literate”.

He also expects Harapan will likely lose seven to eight seats out of the 51 seats it won in the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018 when Bersatu was part of the coalition.

However, according to Rafizi (above), the number of seats also depends on the federal government’s performance for the next four months and the shift of Umno voters to Harapan after establishing a coalition government.

“So far, if we look at several surveys, they show that Harapan voters have accepted this combination well.

“Hypothetically, it should be relatively easy to retain those 40 seats because those who support and accept the reality of this coalition government are Harapan supporters, especially supporters in urban and semi-urban areas, who understand the needs and policies to be made.

“In Selangor, the risk we don’t know yet is the uncertainty of how many Umno votes can be transferred to Harapan, not so much how many Harapan voters will support the party or Harapan-BN,” he said.

He said this during a press conference after a PKR convention on the Selangor polls held at the Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC) in Shah Alam, Selangor, today.

He said although explaining this to Umno’s grassroots will be complicated, it will not be impossible even if it takes time.

PAS wave a ‘storm in a teacup’

Meanwhile, Rafizi, who is also the economic affairs minister, told Selangor state representatives not to worry about the “green wave” of Perikatan Nasional (PN) following the results of the 15th general election (GE15).

He said they will be able to defend Selangor for the next state election if they adopt the same approach with voters when they were in the opposition, despite being part of the federal government now.

“In 2018, when PAS and Umno were quite confident they could seize Selangor, we (Harapan) won big... that’s why the wave that PAS wants to bring to Selangor is like a storm in a teacup,” he said.

He added that the PAS wave would recede based on the coalition government’s performance which will highlight its responsibility in taking care of the economy and the people.

“PN wants to enjoy it (narrative on the green wave), let it be for the next two or three months... My view is that we will defend Selangor comfortably. After this, God willing, we will surprise the public, especially PAS who are enjoying themselves right now.

“With PAS, we know this behaviour. If we see PAS on social media, their level of confidence is high, like they defeated France playing football.

“Their strength and skills are not much on social media but they seem to want to take over Malaysia,” he said in his speech in front of hundreds of Selangor PKR representatives.

He said after holding power in Selangor for four terms, Harapan has become familiar with the needs of voters in the state who do not like leaders with too much protocol and rely on the strength of the government when campaigning.

“We are always seen as a party close to the people. If we maintain this, we will not only defend Selangor, but we can win more successfully than expected,” he said. - Mkini