GE15 influences state polls' voting patterns - political analysts

KUALA LUMPUR - The 15th General Election's (GE15) results last year seen had an impact and influenced the voting patterns of electors in the six state elections yesterday, said the senior lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Professor Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani.

He said that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance which formed the federal government after the GE15, was yet to have a direct impact on voters, especially in the east coast states.

"We initially expected that the federal government would have a direct effect on the states involved in the elections (to choose the alliance), but it was not so.

"In this context, I think there are certain achievements made by the BN and PH alliance. There were constituencies in which we thought that this alliance could win bigger but it did not happen,” he said when appearing as a guest on the "PR6N: #AndaPenentu” programme produced by Bernama TV last night.

He also said that the decisive factor in the victory of any political party is the young people, but based on the voting trends in six states yesterday, the group was seen still voting for parties that they feel can govern the state well.

Meanwhile, the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) Institute of Malaysian and International Studies’ (Ikmas) research fellow Dr Muhamad Azwan Abd Rahman said that BN-PH needs to look back at its campaigning methods in east coast states as it did not receive the support of young people while the Perikatan Nasional (PN) especially Pas managed to secure the majority of seats in the states.

"If you look at the issues raised, they are national in nature and are vague compared with local issues. These eroded the interests of young people in Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah. The group did not really see what BN-PH was offering in the manifesto as they were more of national issues,” he said.

He said that at the end of the day, state and federal governments must respect the voters’ decisions and cooperate so that the country can progress further. - BERNAMA