Pakatan Harapan (PH) will conduct an initial post-mortem this week to review weaknesses in its election machinery, particularly in rural areas, following the Melaka state polls.
PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan (PH) will conduct an initial post-mortem this week to identify weaknesses in its election machinery, particularly in rural constituencies, following the Melaka state election, said PH Communications Director Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil.
He said the review would allow the coalition to assess its performance and identify areas requiring restructuring and improvement, including the preparedness of its grassroots machinery and candidates during the campaign.
Fahmi said preliminary feedback had highlighted differences in campaign readiness between urban and rural constituencies, with machinery in urban areas generally better organised and prepared.
“For certain seats contested by PH component parties, there may have been issues involving the election machinery, its level of preparedness and the candidates’ readiness to face and carry out their campaigns,” he told reporters after a press conference on the Senior Citizen Safety System Pilot Project at 1 Razak Mansion.
He said several aspects would be examined, including voting patterns among younger voters and the relatively low voter turnout compared with the 2022 general election.
Although turnout was higher than that recorded during the 2021 Sabah state election, which was held amid the Covid-19 pandemic, it remained significantly below the level recorded at the 2022 general election.
Fahmi described the Melaka election as a learning experience for the coalition, stressing the importance of reflecting on its performance and drawing lessons from the outcome.
He also highlighted what he described as a positive development, noting that DAP, a PH component party, had not lost any of the seats it was defending in the Sabah state election, marking the first such outcome for the party in the state polls.
Asked what PH needed to change ahead of the next state election following a series of electoral setbacks, Fahmi said the coalition would learn from its past experiences and identify areas requiring improvement.
He acknowledged that the upcoming Sarawak election would present a different set of circumstances but said PH needed to reassess its existing approach, including aspects that required adjustments, restructuring and corrections.
“We need to examine the aspects that may require changes, restructuring, improvements or corrections, and we will discuss these matters at our meeting,” he said.
