SHAH ALAM, Nov 4 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the top preferred choice as Malaysia’s next Prime Minister, a state-owned think tank said yesterday.
Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) chairman Professor Datuk Mohammad Redzuan Othman said that the result of IDE’s survey on the mood of the people ahead of the 15th general election (GE15), which was conducted between 21 and 28 October, showed that 29.6 per cent of the respondents had chosen Anwar, followed by caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (25.9 per cent) and Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (20.7 per cent).
“In our study of Malaysian politics, a support of 30 per cent is considered strong support. But what needs to be done is the efforts that should be made to strengthen the support.
“Based on the survey that we conducted last week, we found a reasonably good level of confidence (towards Anwar),” he said at the launch of the Bahasa Melayu version of Anwar’s book, ‘SCRIPT – For A Better Malaysia,’ at Tamu Hotel, yesterday.
The book titled ‘Membangun Negara Madani Visi dan Kerangka Dasar Reformasi’, published by Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) in collaboration with the Centre for Post-Normal Policy and Future Studies (CPPFS), emphasises the policy frameworks to meet the country’s future needs and potential.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Redzuan said that the survey also found that 81 per cent of the people are excited to cast their vote and that 29.2 per cent of those taking part in the survey are fence-sitters.
“We are expecting to see a voter turnout of over 70 per cent, and this is an important factor… because if the voter turnout does not reach 80 per cent, then it would have an impact on Malaysia’s democratic process and determine the winning candidate,” he added.
IDE said its survey comprised 2,423 respondents in all parliamentary constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia.
