PN lost by offering nothing to voters, say analysts

 

A meeting of rivals: Pakatan Harapan’s Pang Sock Tao (left) and Perikatan Nasional’s Khairul Azhari Saut (right) in an encounter during the Kuala Kubu Baharu election campaign. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Perikatan Nasional’s failure to offer voters anything substantial cost the opposition coalition the by-election for the Kuala Kubu Baharu state seat, say political analysts.

Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said that a victory for PN’s Khairul Azhari Saut would have left constituents represented by someone in the opposition, potentially putting development of the area at risk.

“PN had nothing much to offer except that (voting for PN would) show dissatisfaction towards the state and federal governments. I think this doesn’t carry enough weight for voters to back them.

“On the other hand, Pakatan Harapan’s Pang Sock Tao is part of the state government, and this is very critical. I think the people are quite happy with Amirudin Shari’s administration,” he told FMT.

Azmil Tayeb of Universiti Sains Malaysia said PN seemed unable to offer concrete policies on bread-and-butter issues on the campaign trail, with the coalition focusing on “sentiment-driven issues”.

He said that the rising cost of living was often chief among the concerns of voters, and that this by-election was no exception.

“PN simply failed to offer anything substantive when it comes to these concerns. Plus, Kuala Kubu Baharu voters would benefit more by voting for the incumbent government since it’s where the resources are.”

Pang won the by-election yesterday with a majority of 3,869 votes. She polled 14,000 votes, defeating PN’s candidate Khairul Azhari Saut (10,131), Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s Hafizah Zainuddin (152) and independent candidate Nyau Ke Xin (188).

The final turnout of voters was 61.5%, lower compared to the 69.25% recorded at the state assembly elections last August.

Azmi said it was likely that there was a lower turnout of Malay voters than non-Malays, adding that this probably worked in PH’s favour.

Nonetheless, he said Pang’s success in winning the majority of votes of policemen and military personnel, most of whom are Malay, reflected Umno’s success in wooing Malay votes for the unity government.

“I think Umno has done quite well in attracting the Malay voters to vote for the PH candidate.”

Azmil said sympathy voters may have also worked to PH’s benefit, referring to the death of the former three-term assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong from cancer in March. - FMT