BY-ELECTION SEES BIG DROP IN YOUTH VOTES
‘For them, regardless of who wins the byelection, the government remains’
ASIGNIFICANT drop in youth vote and constituents not knowing they needed to vote are two factors for the low turnout in the Sungai Kandis by-election on Saturday.
Newly-minted Sungai Kandis assemblyman Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni said voters, when contacted by the PKR election machinery about the by-election at 3pm on Saturday, explained that they were working or out of town, while some were surprised to learn that they were registered voters in the constituency.
“We are worried about voters not voting. We found that the polling streams for youth (at the 19 polling stations in the constituency) recorded a huge drop in voters, maybe because they are comfortable with the current situation (now that Pakatan Harapan has formed the government).
“They think that regardless of who wins the by-election, the government remains. This is worrying. They don’t realise that if a state seat is under the opposition, residents will see a difference in administration and services provided.
“If the same party leads the state, (Parliament) and state government, operations will be smoother.
“But alhamdullilah (praise be to God), the rakyat have spoken and we obtained the result of success to PKR yesterday,” he said at his office in Kota Kemuning here yesterday.
The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday said only 49.4 per cent of voters had turned out to vote in the by-election, which was a little more than half its prediction of an 80 per cent turnout.
Zawawi said EC and the Information Department could have better promoted the by-election to create greater awareness among constituents.
“I am not blaming any parties. But I think they were not given much exposure on the by-election. Some voters had no idea about it and whether they are registered voters because of the recent redelineation exercise.
“This includes residents in Andalas. They didn’t realise they needed to vote despite us making our rounds during the 14-day campaign.
“EC must pay attention to this to better inform the public on byelections.”
Zawawi won Saturday’s byelection with a majority of 5,842 votes. He polled 15,427 votes to beat BN candidate Datuk Lokman Noor Adam who received 9,585 votes, while Independent candidate K. Murthy obtained 97 votes.
The Sungai Kandis state seat fell vacant following the death of Mat Shuhaimi due to lymphoma on July 2.