SHAH ALAM: The excellent performance of Pakatan Harapan (PH) in leading the Selangor government over the past five years will be the main asset of the coalition and its ally Barisan Nasional (BN) to gain majority support in the state election next month, according to analysts.
Universiti Selangor (Unisel) deputy vice-chancellor Assoc Prof Dr Hamdan Mohd Salleh said throughout the last term, the Selangor government had successfully provided services that were felt up to the grassroots level, in addition to having good governance and management standards.
“This is an advantage for them especially in urban and suburban seats, where voters look at the performance of the assemblymen and the state government, and not merely at the party’s symbol,“ he told Bernama.
In fact, he said the strength of Selangor as the main engine of the country's economy would also give PH and BN an advantage in gaining support in 20 to 25 seats in urban areas.
Selangor made history when it contributed more than a quarter, or 25.5 per cent, to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth last year, which is an increase of 0.7 per cent from the previous year.
However, Hamdan said, parties from the Unity Government would face challenges with the emergence of political influence based on race and religion which may affect voting patterns among the Malay community, especially in rural areas.
“In addition, PH and BN will also face a ‘swing vote’ situation among Umno members, on whether they will choose the parties from the Unity Government or Perikatan Nasional (PN),“ he said.
Therefore, he said, the PH-BN machinery needs to have political determination in providing an explanation with regard to the unity government and try to find common ground, especially among the grassroots of the DAP and Umno.
Meanwhile, Dr Mazlan Ali, a political analyst from the Perdana Centre, Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia believes that Selangor is still a stronghold for PH since taking over the state’s administration in 2008, then known as Pakatan Rakyat.
“Selangor has been ruled by PH for three terms, so the people are familiar with the policies of the PH government because the people of Selangor will measure and choose leaders based on the performance of political party representatives, unlike the states in the east coast and north (of the Peninsula), where they usually choose the party,“ he said.
Mazlan said that based on surveys, he found that the majority of people in Selangor liked the policies implemented by the PH government, while the state did not face many significant issues and most of them were resolved well.
“Although water issues are also faced in Selangor, it is not a serious problem compared to that faced by the people in Kelantan,“ he said.
Selangor, which has a total of 3,747,057 voters, will hold state elections together with five other states, namely Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu on Aug 12.
In GE14, PH dominated Selangor when it won 51 out of 56 state assembly seats, followed by BN with four and PAS with one.
However, the composition of the state assembly before the dissolution sees PH holding 40 seats (PKR-19, DAP-15, Amanah-six), BN (five), Bersatu (four), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) (two), while PAS, Pejuang, and Warisan have one each, along with one Independent representative.
Another seat in Batang Kali, however, was declared vacant after the elected representative failed to attend the assembly sitting for over six months. -Bernama
