Umno unlikely to win elections amid shifting voter sentiment - Shahril

SHAH ALAM - Former Umno information chief, Shahril Hamdan has said that Umno is unlikely to win any elections in the current climate of shifting voter sentiment.

Shahril said that Umno will not be able to gain the trust of voters if it continues to practice a culture of overpraise and dishonesty.

"In Umno, the culture of sycophancy and unwillingness to speak the truth still prevails.

"Frankly speaking, there is no way for Umno to continue winning in this current wave of sentiment," he said in a podcast programme yesterday.

Shahril also revealed that Umno Terengganu was so confident of winning state seats in the recent state election that they did not even bother to discuss the allocation of seats with other parties.

"I understand that when discussing the allocation of seats before the state election, the leadership of Terengganu Umno was confident of winning," he added.

Meanwhile, commenting on Perikatan Nasional's (PN) victory in Kedah, Former Bangi MP, Dr Ong Kian Ming, said that the victory was not only due to the green wave narrative but also related to the leadership of Kedah Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.

"This surprises me because PN's results in Kedah increased from 71.7 per cent in the 15th General Election (GE15) to 73.3 per cent, and this two per cent increase is indeed unexpected," he said.

Kian Ming explained that Sanusi's victory was due to a number of factors, including his strong leadership and his ability to connect with voters.

Former Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin added that the factor of Malay voters who chose PN also contributed to Sanusi's victory, defeating several Umno leaders who contested.

"Umno members don't like working with PH and Umno members are not pleased because Zahid is still the Umno President. All these contributed to the outcome," said Khairy.