SHAH ALAM, July 7 — The excellent performance of Pakatan Harapan (Harapan) in leading the Selangor government over the past five years will be its main asset to gain majority support in the August 12 state elections, said analysts.
Universiti Selangor deputy vice-chancellor Assoc Prof Hamdan Mohd Salleh said throughout last term, the Selangor government successfully provided services that voters felt right down to the grassroots level, in addition to having good governance and management standards.
“This is an advantage for (Harapan), especially in urban and suburban seats, where voters look at the performance of the assemblymen and the state government, and not merely at the party’s symbol,” he told Bernama.
He said the strength of Selangor as the main engine of the country’s economy would give Harapan and Barisan Nasional (BN) an advantage in gaining support in 20 to 25 urban seats.
Selangor made history when it contributed more than a quarter, or 25.5 per cent, to the country’s gross domestic product last year — an increase of 0.7 per cent from the previous year.
However, Hamdan said, unity government parties would face challenges with the emergence of race- and religion-based political influence, which may affect voting patterns among the Malay community, especially in rural areas.
“Harapan and BN will also face a ‘swing vote’ from Umno (supporters) on whether they will choose the parties from the unity government or Perikatan Nasional (PN),” he said.
He said the Harapan-BN machinery needs to display confidence in providing an explanation with regard to the unity government and try to find common ground, especially among DAP and Umno grassroots.
Meanwhile, Mazlan Ali, a political analyst from Perdana Centre, Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, believes Selangor is still a Harapan stronghold since it took over the state in 2008 under its previous Pakatan Rakyat moniker.
“Selangor has been ruled by Harapan for three terms, so the people are familiar with the policies of the Harapan government because the people of Selangor will measure and choose leaders based on the performance of (each politician), unlike in east coast and northern states (of the peninsula), where they usually (vote by) party,” he said.
Mazlan said surveys found that the majority of Selangor people liked the policies implemented by the Harapan state administration.
“Although water issues were also faced in Selangor, they are not too serious compared with those faced by the people in Kelantan,” he said.
Selangor, which has 3,747,057 voters, will hold state elections simultaneously with Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.
In the 14th general election, Harapan dominated Selangor when it won 51 out of 56 state assembly seats, followed by BN with four and PAS with one.
However, the composition of the state assembly before the dissolution saw Harapan with 40 seats (PKR with 19, DAP with 15, Amanah with six), BN with five, Bersatu with four, Parti Bangsa Malaysia with two, and PAS, Pejuang, and Warisan with one each, along with one Independent seat.
The Batang Kali seat was declared vacant after the representative failed to attend the assembly sitting for over six months.
— Bernama
