Survey shows Pakatan expected to keep Semenyih seat

SHAH ALAM:

Pakatan Harapan is expected to retain the Semenyih state seat by a narrow margin, reveals a survey by Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE), a think tank under the Selangor government.

IDE deputy chairman Prof Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman said Pakatan would be able to retain 46% of the votes while Barisan Nasional might get 37%.

In the 14th General Election, Pakatan won 50.76% of the votes.

The survey, conducted between Jan 30 and Feb 1, involved 1,142 registered voters in the Semenyih constituency covering 23 voting districts.

It also found that 12% of the voters would pledge support for other candidates while the remaining 5% were in favour of independent candidates.

The survey projected the voter turnout at 84%.

Dr Mohammad Redzuan said the findings showed that there was no clear winner in the by-election.

“The battleground lies on those who said they will vote for others and those who will vote for independent candidates,” he told reporters at IDE’s office yesterday.

He also said voters were generally satisfied with the state government as 61% of those surveyed expressed positive remarks.

“There are only 39% who are negative,” he said.

There are a total of 53,257 registered voters in Semenyih with the Malays making up 67.7%, Chinese (17.7%), Indian (13.7%), Sabahans and Sarawakians (0.5%), orang asli (0.5%) and others (0.8%).

The survey found that 46% of Malay voters were dissatisfied with the state government, followed by 22% of Chinese and 18% of Indian voters.

Dr Mohammad Redzuan said the choice of candidates by the parties would play an important role in the by-election.

“Voters want to see who both parties will offer and they may change their votes accordingly,” he said.

He also said that while voters were generally happy with the Pakatan leadership at the federal level, they were concerned about the issue of the rising cost of living.

“Malaysians are still hoping for continued efforts by the government to address issues pertaining to the cost of living and prices of goods.

“The response of the people is still positive towards Inisiatif Peduli Rakyat introduced by the state government,” he said.