Urban Voters Favour Candidates Than Parties

A Kadir Jasin

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IF the outcome Selangor Barisan Nasional’s surveys of the Klang Valley voters is any indication, then the ruling coalition may be facing a new challenge in the urban areas throughout the country – fielding high calibre candidates.

The surveys found that the focus on the personality of candidates is increasing. In another word, voters are more likely to choose the candidates than the party.

Revealing this to reporters in Sekinchan on Friday, Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said the surveys showed that between 50 and 70 per cent of the respondents looked at the personality of the candidate rather than the party when voting.

The state BN chairman said the surveys showed that the mindset of voters had changed, signaling that the Selangor BN has to ensure that its candidates are well qualified and acceptable to the voters.

[Update, Feb. 19]

The 1st Casualty of the Election

The Star newspaper reported that the police have stopped the house-to-house search for missing girl Sharlinie Mohd Nashar due to the general election but will continue if new leads surface.

The 1,100 police personnel involved in the search have been deployed for the election.

OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed said the task force in charge of the search is still operating and leads are being investigated.

[Continuation of Original Posting]

A Malaysiakini report quoted Dr Mohamad Khir as saying that criteria for choosing candidates in Selangor would include good educational background and good interpersonal skills.

He said a similar trend was detected among Indian voters in the Batu Caves state constituency, adding that Selangor BN would have to propose more than one potential MIC candidate “to gauge their popularity and acceptance.”

But the Selangor BN has more than the personality of its candidates to worry about. A New Straits Times survey of voters in the state last November found that inflation, crime and the influx of illegal immigrants to be at the top of their concern in the general election.

The survey, conducted by the Merdeka Centre, polled 798 respondents between Nov 18 and 24. It was one in a series of polls commissioned by the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad to track voter sentiments.

In a more recent survey – conducted among 1,026 randomly picked registered voters between Dec. 14 and Dec. 19 -- the Centre found inflation, crime and ethnic equality as the voters’ principal concern.

The poll was carried out to gauge voters’ perceptions of current issues, the economy and national leadership. With prices rising and supplies missing, mounting crime rate and growing civil disobedience, the BN will be facing a whole new scenario.

If the trend manifests itself at the March 8 polling, the BN could stand to lose more non-Malay votes to the oppositions, mainly the DAP. It may even lose the critical Malay middle class votes, which in the past, tended to favour to side with it, to Pas, Keadilan and even the DAP.

Other than the Klang Valley, urban centres like Georgetown, Ipoh, Butterworth and, to a lesser degree, Malacca and Seremban may exhibit a similar trend.

Fortunately for the BN, the oppositions too are hard pressed to field high calibre candidates given their lackluster performance and internal problem in the past general elections and the lack of coverage in the mainstream media.

The change of heart among the educated and independent-minded urban voters could be due to the series of sex scandals and charges of corruption affecting BN members of Parliament and State Assemblymen in recent months.