Some Opposition party goes around claiming that their 'support' in Sarawak Elections by looking at the number of votes that they obtained in seats where the stood for elections...
Meanwhile, for the Opposition, DAP garnered the highest popular vote of 18.21%, followed by PKR (9.29%), PAS (1.70%), Independents (5.32%), Star (0.37%), Amanah (1.24%) and PBDSB (0.16%).
Well, no such correlation can be made - because if it was another Opposition party candidate that stood, the votes would ,have gone to that candidate irrespective of what party they came from - DAP, PAS, PKR, Amanah, etc.. especially in a direct fight with the BN.
What we can only say, is that is that the votes cast for non-Barisan candidates are really simply anti-Barisan Nasional votes...
Some parties stood in many seats...and, by reason of some 'election pact', candidates from the other Opposition parties did not stand - the object being to try and get a one to one fight with the Barisan Nasional candidate. So, if it was a DAP or a PKR or a PAS candidate, the outcome may be similar...likewise even if it was a party like Parti Rakyat Malaysia(PRM) or Parti Sosialist Malaysia(PSM), the outcome will be similar if it was a one to one fight...with an agreement of the rest of the Opposition parties..
PKR, the new 'Opposition' party tries to get as many seats to place candidates for a one to one fight - but, I wonder, whether this party really still have as much support as before - what are the numbers of new members in PKR? Over the years, PKR has been dropping prominent leaders...and surely that would have also impacted its membership numbers...
PAS continues to be most active - having regular political activities on a weekly basis even when there is no by-elections or General Elections - and, as such, its membership continues to grow... People join political parties to also be active...and PAS has always had this. Do they all support PAS? Well, that may be a question - but joining PAS generally means there are many activities and opportunities to be active not just in political activities but also social activities...
DAP on the other hand also have a lot of prominent capable leaders, who are often in the media responding and dealing with local issues, or making statements on national concerns...
PKR, on the other hand has seen a decline in activities - we only hear of a few PKR leaders and the issues they address is usually national issues. One exception, may be the Kuantan PKR MP who was actively raising the Lynas issue ...and, recently the bauxite mining issue. But, unlike the Lynas issue, there was less efforts when it came to the bauxite issue - Why? Was it because Lynas was some foreign corporation - but the bauxite mining profits a lot of locals, from FELDA settlements, etc... [In fact, the group that highlighted the bauxite issue was interestingly the New Straits Times...]...How many PKR MPs can you name?
So what really was the support ...the 'real support' for PKR, DAP, PAS, Amanah ...in Sarawak? What really is the support in Peninsular Malaysia or Malaysia?
The fact that the Barisan Nasional increased the popular vote in the Sarawak Elections is interesting - do the DAP, PAS, PKR...or even the Amanah still have what is needed to defeat the BN government at the Federal level? Or, is there a need to revive the THIRD FORCE?
Or maybe, the 'big' Opposition parties must really open its doors to include the other political parties like Parti Rakyat Malaysia(PRM), Parti Sosialist Malaysia(PSM), KITA, ...and the numerous other Opposition parties in Sabah and Sarawak?
We should be talking of at least an 'election pact' to ensure a one to one fight with the BN in the upcoming elections...
Forming a coalition like the BN - which is a registered coalition takes a longer time, and the problem now seems that these major parties like PKR, PAS and even DAP are seen to want to contest in as many seats as possible so that if they win, they will have the biggest number of seats - hence the ability to be Chief Minister or Menteri Besar?? This should not be the PRIORITY now - it should be getting a one to one fight with the BN...
We need the BEST candidate for each and every seat, and it does not matter which Opposition party they come for...
PKR, PAS and DAP must abandon the 'my seat' thinking just because they stood at that seat in the last General Elections (or even several GEs in the past)...if there is a better candidate from some other party, let go and let that party contest...if there is a better candidate not yet in any political party ...then choose that candidate and let him/her choose which political party they would like to contest in...
PKR is said to have obtained 9.29% of the popular vote - well divide that by the total number of seats that PKR contested in, and then we shall see how much of the popular vote per seat? The greater number of seats that a party contests in, the higher the chances that the popular vote they get will be higher...and, as I mentioned earlier, at present, what votes really tell us is how much support the BN has, and how much support the BN does not have...
In no way, can we say that the 'popular vote' garnered by any of the Opposition parties is an indication of how many people in Sarawak support that particular political party?
However, if there was a DAP and a PKR candidate that both contested for the same seat against the BN, we can say whether PKR or DAP has more support...???
One thing that is clear is that PAS definitely has much more support that the break-away Amanah party ..that was obvious from the Sarawak Election results..in seats which saw both PAS and Amanah placing candidates...
Mahathir's 'Citizen Declaration' - an elaborate strategy to shift all blame to one men - the PM Najib Razak, and away from the Barisan Nasional ...will have a significant impact in the next General Elections if suddenly Najib Razak decides to step down as Prime Minister... Sadly, some Opposition and civil society personalities have been roped into supporting this Declaration...[Go read that Declaration properly...]
We need also to consider why PKR, DAP, PAS, Amanah is losing support of the people - we will discuss that later...???
Sunday, 8 May 2016 | MYT 12:59 PM
Sarawak polls: BN increases share of popular vote to 63.72%
KUCHING: Barisan Nasional garnered 63.72% of the popular vote in the 11th Sarawak state election.
This is an increase of 8.32% from the last state election, as the coalition only managed to get 55.4% then.
In the 2006 state election, Barisan received 61.8% of the popular vote.
In this election, PBB recorded 30.49% of the popular vote, SUPP
13.38%, PRS (6.85%), SPDP (3.12%) and direct candidates (9.88%).
Meanwhile, for the Opposition, DAP garnered the highest popular vote
of 18.21%, followed by PKR (9.29%), PAS (1.70%), Independents (5.32%),
Star (0.37%), Amanah (1.24%) and PBDSB (0.16%).
On Saturday, 777,018 voters exercised their right to vote in the election.
In the last election, Pakatan Rakyat consisting of DAP-PKR-SNAP-PAS
garnered 41.23%, followed by Independents (2.98%) and Parti Cinta
Malaysia (0.43%). -- Bernama - Star, 8/5/2016
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