Think tank: Despite Harapan win in KKB, younger voters prefer PN

While the recently concluded Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election saw Pakatan Harapan retaining the seat, a Selangor government think tank revealed that Perikatan Nasional was the preferred choice among younger voters.

Institut Darul Ehsan’s (IDE) analysis showed that PN secured 63 percent of votes from those aged 18 to 24.

However, its senior research manager Khairul Ariffin Mohd Munir said this was mitigated by the fact that this age group had the lowest voter turnout of around 53 percent.

"The turnout of voters aged 41 and above exceeded more than 60 percent, while the young crowd’s turnout was less than 55 percent," he told Malaysiakini, adding that a factor for this lower turnout among younger voters was their absence from Kuala Kubu Baharu.

The analysis, posted on IDE’s Facebook, also highlighted that a significant portion of voters, approximately 38.5 percent, did not cast their ballots, which led to a 7.7 percent decrease in voter turnout during this by-election compared to the 15th general election in 2022, dropping to 61.5 percent from 76.9 percent.

In the August Selangor state election last year, the constituency recorded a 69.2 percent turnout.

"Efforts still need to be intensified to give awareness about voting," Khairul added.

Racial breakdown

As for the racial breakdown, IDE found that Malay and Chinese voters recorded a turnout of 63 percent, while Indian voters were at 57 percent.

Despite PN's perceived dominance among Malay voters, the report indicated a three percent increase in Malay voters and eight percent in Indian voters supporting the Harapan-BN coalition. Chinese voters maintained their support for the Madani government.

The increase in Malay voters for the government was evident as they regained control of two out of four Malay-majority voting districts, namely Kg Air Jernih and Pertak, which they lost in last year’s state election.

PN retained control of the other Malay voting districts - Bandar Utama Batang Kali and Ampang Pecah.

Pakatan Harapan's Pang Sock Tao

On May 11, Harapan's Pang Sock Tao was declared the winner in the four-way clash between her, PN's Khairul Azhari Saut, Parti Rakyat Malaysia candidate Hafizah Zainudin, and independent Nyau Ke Xin.

Pang won with 57.2 percent of votes, and a majority of 3,869 ballots. PN bagged 10,131 votes or 41.4 percent of the ballot.

The by-election was called following the passing of incumbent Lee Kee Hiong on March 20 due to cancer.