Voters preferring govt that focuses on local issues signals potential low voter turnout

SHAH ALAM - Voters will be paying more attention to the local issues rather than national issues in making their decision in the 15th General Election (GE15).

This was especially for those living in borneo, rural areas and designated lands.

Based on a survey conducted by Ilham Centre on 1,622 respondents nationwide, 61 per cent of the respondents preferred the future government to give more focus on the local issues.

The survey found that across different ethnicities, 59 per cent of the Indians, 55 per cent of the Malays and 52 per cent of Chinese voters wanted local issues to be prioritised more than the national issues.

Both Muslims (84 per cent) and non-Muslim indigenous communities (85 per cent) have expressed a high favour for local issues to be resolved by the new government.

When compared between urban and rural areas, the latter displayed a higher preference for local issues to be given attention to with villages at 75 per cent, designated lands at 69 per cent, suburbs at 56 per cent leaving urban citizens behind at 54 per cent.

Interestingly, there was hardly any significant difference between age groups from 18 to 20 all the way to 60 and above with 61.5 per cent citing a gravitation towards local rather than national issues when casting their ballot which signalled a potential low voter turnout.