Unity govt upbeat on state polls

PETALING JAYA: The unity government is confident of capturing at least two states from PAS as it has had over seven months to show the people what it can do and has achieved to win over voters, said Universiti Malaya political analyst Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi.

“The over seven months of being in power have allowed the unity government to show voters how different its policies are from the Perikatan Nasional-led government.

“The policies put in place by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim have emphasised helping the less well-off. Such policies have resonated very well in the Opposition-led states as the people feel they are being given first preference and that no state has been left behind in federal government policies.”

Awang Azman said Pakatan Harapan (PH) holds a clear and distinctive advantage over Perikatan Nasional (PN), which can no longer claim the moral high ground.

He also said PN has had its funds either confiscated or frozen, and its image has been hurt as some of its top leaders are facing court cases.

Awang Azman said another advantage PH holds over PAS-led states is voters in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu can see the huge difference in development that has occurred in PH-led states.

“There are major economic and infrastructure development projects in PH-led states. Whether this will translate into votes remains to be seen. What is more important is for PH and the unity government to win the social media war, which will give them a big boost in the coming state elections.”

Anwar had previously expressed confidence that parties in the unity government will capture at least two PAS-held states in the upcoming polls.

He declined to specify if the two he meant were among Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan, which are all currently led by PAS-helmed caretaker state governments following the dissolution of their state assemblies.

Anwar added that studies conducted by his team had indicated that PH would retain Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan, now that the public has accepted the coalition’s cooperation with Barisan Nasional (BN).

Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said PH supporters will be solidly behind their parties, but things could be a bit dicey for Umno supporters because the party is working with DAP.

He said theoretically, more people would support the unity government, which was cobbled together as a compromise with 19 political parties.

“The federal government represents all walks of life and voters should be comfortable with the unity government. But on the other side, PN is playing the 3Rs (race, religion and royalty) issues, especially the first two.

“Anwar is confident of capturing two PAS-led states, although he did not mention which ones. The most probable states are Kedah and Terengganu. However, I am more inclined to believe the status quo will remain, i.e. three for PH and three for PN.”

Azmi said a few seats will be lost by incumbents on either side and that it is very hard to determine the outcome of the state elections this time around.

He said there are very few reliable polls on what will drive the voters to pick a particular party.

Although it is only a state election, it might be seen as a kind of referendum for the federal leadership, since only six states are going to the polls, he said.

Azmi added that the political scenario has seen lots of changes, and with Umno and DAP in the unity government, whether voters want to see a change is anybody’s guess.

He said it will be very hard at the moment to determine whom the votes will go to, but most likely the status quo will remain.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said voters in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan will go to the polls on Aug 12, following the decision to hold simultaneous state elections in the six states.

He added nominations will be held on July 29 and early voting on Aug 8.

Abdul Ghani said about 9.77 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots and of these, 9.67 million are ordinary voters.

The others are soldiers and their spouses (49,660), police personnel and their spouses (47,728) and overseas absentee voters (1,727).

“The electoral rolls to be used in the state elections are the latest ones until the Supplementary Electoral Roll for April 2023, updated as of June 21,” he said after chairing a special EC meeting on the state polls at Menara SPR yesterday.

The EC convened the meeting after receiving notifications on the official dissolution of the six state assemblies from their speakers.

Kelantan was the first to dissolve its state assembly on June 22, followed by Selangor (June 23), Penang, Kedah and Terengganu (June 28), and Negeri Sembilan (July 1).

The six states did not dissolve their state assemblies when Parliament was dissolved on Oct 10 last year to pave the way for the 15th general election on Nov 19.

Abdul Ghani said the state polls would involve 245 seats, comprising 36 in Kedah, 45 in Kelantan, 32 in Terengganu, 40 in Penang, 56 in Selangor and 36 in Negeri Sembilan.

“The campaign period has been fixed for 14 days beginning July 29, when the names of candidates are announced, until 11.58pm on Aug 11,” he said.

Abdul Ghani added that applications for all categories of postal votes overseas and in the country were opened on June 15.

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