The Malay Mail, Monday, 24 March 2014
KUALA LUMPUR - The lower turnout in the Kajang by-election was
indicative of Malaysians’ weariness with local politics, some political
analysts said while others put it down to abstaining outstation voters.
“It is an indication of voter
fatigue and disillusionment with politics in the country —
disillusionment with politics as a whole including PKR’s engineering of
the by-election,” Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI) chief Dr Lim Teck
Ghee told The Malay Mail Online today.
“At the same time, the large
majority felt that it was still important for them to drag themselves to
the voting booth — however reluctantly — so as to ensure a PKR
victory,” the political analyst added.
The alternate explanation provided
by Merdeka Centre’s Ibrahim Suffian and James Chin from Monash
University (Malaysian campus) was that the 72 per cent voter turnout at
the Kajang by-election was more likely due to outstation voters staying
home.
PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan
Azizah Wan Ismail won the Kajang state seat yesterday, netting 16,741
votes to Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun’s
11,362 votes.
Dr Wan Azizah’s majority of 5,379
votes was lower than that of PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh, who won the state seat
during the 13th general election last year with a margin of 6,824
votes, although the former increased PKR’s proportion of the vote
slightly from 57 per cent to 59 per cent.
During Election 2013, 88 per cent
of registered voters came out to cast their ballots in Kajang, but the
turnout dipped to 72 per cent in the by-election yesterday.
Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin
from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said the lower voter turnout
signalled a protest against the “contrived” by-election — dubbed the
“Kajang Move” — that was triggered by Lee’s unforced and unexplained
resignation.
“And perhaps BN increased [its
support] due to protest voters who decided to not vote PR (Pakatan
Rakyat) this time,” the political analyst told The Malay Mail Online.
But he also cautioned MCA against prematurely celebrating their purported increase in Chinese support.
“Protesting against PR and thus
voting for BN not really for MCA. Chinese voters are still solidly
behind PR, and Malay voters are divided,” said Shamsul Amri.
The Kajang by-election was widely
seen as a stepping stone for Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
to replace Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor mentri besar, in order to
resolve PKR’s internal conflicts.
But the PKR de facto leader was
disqualified after his previous sodomy acquittal was overturned on March
7, three days before nomination, forcing PKR to field Dr Wan Azizah in
his stead.
According to Ibrahim, surveys by
independent pollster Merdeka Centre showed only a “small fraction” of
voters who cited unhappiness with the “forced” by-election, many of whom
were sympathetic towards BN.
“MCA may have improved on the
Chinese vote overall, but one needs to look at the details. Turnout in
the Chinese polling districts were low and likely consisted of elderly
voters who are slightly more inclined to them anyway,” the Merdeka
Centre chief told The Malay Mail Online.
Monash University’s Chin said the
Kajang election outcome showed that PR continues to enjoy “solid
support” in Selangor, the country’s most developed and industrialised
state.
“MCA will not get the Chinese vote,” Chin told The Malay Mail Online.
Ibrahim said that the lower voter
turnout could also be due to Umno supporters not coming out in large
numbers to vote for an “inconsequential” election, or because of younger
and out-of-town voters opting to give the poll a miss.
It could also simply be people taking the weekend off as the election coincided with the start of school holidays, he said.
“Plus next week Chengbeng begins,
so people living away will hold back making their visit,” Ibrahim added,
referring to the Chinese All Souls Day festival where people visit
their ancestors’ graves.
- Malaymail
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