‘Anwar expected to win 74 per cent of votes’

PORT DICKSON: Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for the Port Dickson by-election, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is expected to garner the lion’s share of votes in today’s poll, a study revealed.

The survey by Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) found that 74 per cent of the electorate will choose the PKR president-elect as their new member of parliament.

IDE deputy chairman Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman said the study was conducted on Oct 8 and 9, and involved 1,084 voters in the constituency. He said most of the respondents indicated that Anwar was their choice, because it would lead to him becoming the eighth prime minister.

The study also predicted that Pas candidate Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar will receive 11 per cent of the votes, followed by independent candidate Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad (10 per cent), while the four other independent candidates will each receive one per cent of the votes.

The Port Dickson constituency has 77,750 registered voters, 43 per cent of whom are Malay, 33 per cent Chinese, 22 per cent Indian and two per cent others.

The contest will see a sevencornered fight involving Anwar, Nazari, Isa, Anwar’s former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan and two other independent candidates.

The seat was vacated by Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah on Sept 12 to allow Anwar to contest and return to the Dewan Rakyat.