GE15: No big issue to spark political tsunami
SHAH ALAM - Research firm O2 Research Malaysia (O2) predicts that there will be no political tsunami in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Its chief researcher Anis Anwar Suhaimi said it would be difficult for the political tsunami that happened in GE14 to repeat because the political issues, sentiments as well as the voting patterns were different.
He said among the issues that triggered the wave of political tsunami and massive rejection towards Barisan Nasional (BN) in GE14 was the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal as well as the Goods and Services tax (GST).
"The 1MDB and GST issues previously became a campaign to reject BN, however, in GE15 when Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) especially Pas became part of the government, all parties had their own liabilities.
"Previously, the alternative for BN was PH. Today there are three main coalitions (BN, PH, and PN) as well as Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) for the people to choose from in GE15," he told Sinar Premium.
Anis rejected the possibility of the littoral combat ships (LCS) issue and the combination of BN and PH as the factors for a political tsunami.
He said both issues were expected to give less of an impact towards the voting pattern as BN in GE15 was more active in explaining themselves to the public.
Meanwhile, Darul Ehsan Institute (IDE) senior research manager Khairul Ariffin Mohd Munir expected that the eagerness of the people in the peninsula to go out and vote would see a repeat of the political tsunami that happened in GE14 with an estimated 81 per cent compared to 83 per cent in the last election.
He said the voter excitement rate was far higher compared to the by-election and state election after GE14, where the voter turnout rate was only 50 to 60 per cent.
He said this arised from the active campaigning carried out by all political parties since the announcement of the dissolution of Parliament and the nomination day on Nov 5.
"Our survey found that the response to booking trains, flights and bus tickets for voters to return to their hometowns was encouraging.
"This was a clear indication that Malaysians' sentiments of excitement to go out and vote may reach the numbers in GE14.
"However the percentage of votes may be affected if there are unforeseen circumstances such as floods," he said.
