By Nasuha Badrul Huzaini
SHAH ALAM, Nov 18 — Barisan Nasional (BN)’s strategy of switching well-known candidates has triggered an uncontrolled backlash against the coalition, says Ilham Centre.
The think tank said parliamentary seats including Ketereh, Maran, Tanjong Karang, Jelebu, Tenggara and Kota Tinggi have been identified as facing risks from internal sabotage.
According to the independent research firm, the action has weakened the fighting spirit among the machinery that supported the ousted warlords and caused confusion.
“The BN chairman’s (Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi) decision to ignore the oligarchy and the party’s housekeeping process did not go well.
“As a result, the party’s machinery has protested and will not cast their votes or will be voting for the opponent,” said Ilham Centre in their research titled Voters’ Support Pattern and the 15th General Election Prediction (Pola Sokongan Pengundi dan Prediksi Pilihan Raya Umum ke-15).
The research was conducted for three weeks beginning from October 30 to November 17 involving 1,211 respondents and 150 targeted respondents throughout the country.
The respondents covered all segments of gender, race, age range, economic background, education level, income range and locality.
Meanwhile, Ilham Centre described the scenario in Sabah as unique because the move to divide the areas fairly between the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and BN to avoid clashes with each other has sparked different reactions from voters.
“For BN traditional seats, their ardent supporters find it difficult to support GRS with their votes. Similar circumstances also exist in GRS seats that have been shifted to BN.
“The involved seats are Kudat, Sipitang, and the most critical seat in Ranau, which sees the clash between Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (under BN) and GRS, and BN and Perikatan Nasional in the Beluran seat.
“Most of the respondents that we met on the ground said the clash would give an advantage to Warisan, should there be sabotage and protest votes,” the centre said.
