Polls: No problems retaining Penang, N. Sembilan and Selangor - Rafizi

TASEK GELUGOR - Unity government parties will have no problems retaining Penang, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor in the Aug 12 state elections, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said today.

In fact, he expects more votes for these parties in the three states, which are traditionally Pakatan Harapan (PH) strongholds, this time around now that the coalition also has the backing of Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters.

"And that is why I see no issues in Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. My view is that the Malay votes in these three states will surpass the numbers needed for us to retain them.

"In Kedah and Kelantan, there is a shift in terms of support, but because Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Malay-vote base is sizeable, it remains to be seen in this final week," he told reporters after attending the Jelajah Madani ceramah in Telok Ayer Tawar here tonight.

Rafizi, who is also Economy Minister, said so far, PN appears to be leading the race only in Terengganu.

On an apparent shift of support from Malay voters to unity government parties in Penang from between 30 and 31 per cent to 42 per cent last week, Rafizi said the majority of fence-sitters want a political party that has ideas and leaders who can solve their problems, akin to what is being offered by PH-BN.

He said PN’s only advantage is that they have politicians who like to ‘joke around’ during their campaigns to attract voters.

"I do believe, however, that the unity government parties will retain Penang, but in any case, we should not take the situation lightly. We have to reach out to all of our voter bases, especially the non-Malays,” he said. - BERNAMA