PN confident of reducing 70 per cent majority votes for PH in Pulai

JOHOR BAHRU - Perikatan Nasional (PN) is confident in reducing over 70 per cent of the majority votes for Pulai Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate in the by-election on Saturday.

PN Pulai by-election deputy director Mohd Solihan Badri said the expectance was obtained through the findings and voter feedback collected by PN machinery who went on the ground to campaign.

“We expect to reduce the majority of PH votes from over 30,000 in the 15th general election (GE15) to only 7,000 to 9,000 votes in the by-election.

“Support from voters is sure to rise and if the works run smoothly until the final campaign day, the PN candidate may create a surprise for winning the Pulai Parliament seat with a slight majority,” he said.

He said this after the Pulai Parliament PN candidate Zulkifli Jaafar’s campaign in the Chinese majority area at Bukit Indah, here on Wednesday.

In GE15, the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub garnered 64,900 votes at a large majority of 33,174 votes compared to his competitor Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed from BN (31,726 votes) and PN represented by Loh Kah Yong (20,667 votes).

Solihan, who is the Johor PN deputy chairman said the number of Malay voters who would go out and vote, especially among the youth, was expected to increase.

“The additional votes swinging towards PN by Malays be it Umno members or supporters, Malay voters on the fence as well as PKR members who were unsatisfied.

“PH-BN votes, if combined, should be high, but through grassroots findings, voters' support for both coalitions were divided and PN is expected to benefit from it.

“The addition of votes was also expected to occur from non-Malay voters who were unsatisfied with the nation’s current economy,” he explained.