BN will still form the federal govt in GE14 – political analysts

KUCHING: The BN will still be able to form the Federal Government in the 14th General Election (GE14) as the decisive and majority votes still come from the rural areas, opined the director of Asia Institute of the University of Tasmania Processor James Chin.

“The battle of the GE14 is decided by the rural Malay voters and East Malaysia. So, (Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib (Tun Razak) can depend on them to win the election,” Chin told The Borneo Post yesterday.

His view is shared by Unimas’ political analyst Associate Professor Dr Jeniri Amir who pointed out that even though there were many issues plaguing Najib’s administration, the middle class voters in the urban areas would not be able to change the tide.

“I believe the BN can still retain the Federal Government in the GE14 as the majority of the voters are in the rural areas where most seats are located nationwide,” said Jeniri.

However, he stressed that even if the BN were to be returned to power, albeit with a slim majority, then Umno would pressure its president to step down.

“As for the date, I predict that it would be held sometime in September after the Malaysia Day celebration on September 16 as enough preparation would have been done by then,” said Jeniri.

According to State BN secretarygeneral Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, BN Sarawak would be able to defend its 25 seats and perhaps able to wrest three seats from the opposition.

“We’re confident of retaining all our seats and perhaps recapture at least three more seats,” he said adding that the BN election machinery was still very much intact as it had just held its state election last May.

Currently, out of the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak, 25 are held by the BN, five under DAP and one under PKR.

PRS president Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing pointed out that BN would be able to win the 14th General Election as long as Sarawak and Sabah remained the BN ‘fix deposit’.

“We will remain BN’s ‘fix deposit’ as long as its interest is good and generating good income and its administration caters for all Malaysians regardless of race and religion.

“So far it has been good and fair to all Malaysians. Sarawak and Sabah are on a good stead. Don’t change the manners of governing this country. It works during the last 53 years. There is no reason why it can’t continue to work in the next 50 years,” said Masing.

The deputy chief minister added that his party would be able to deliver the six seats allocated to his party.