PETALING JAYA: The Barisan Nasional (BN) is strategically at its strongest position at the moment, and calling for an early general election (GE15) will give the coalition an advantage over the Opposition.
Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said in wanting to call for an early election, Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is giving a clear message to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who has the power to dissolve the Parliament.
He said Umno is in a good strategic position and it feels that the Opposition is in disarray, which provides a good chance for BN to win big in GE15.
Umno is afraid that if the Opposition is given more time, it will be able to consolidate its position to challenge the party, he added.
“The main worry is if Pakatan Harapan can regroup, Umno will face an uphill task in GE15. Another worry is that the littoral combat ship (LCS) procurement issue and other sensitive ones may crop up to hurt BN’s chances in the coming polls.”
Azmi said although no BN leader has been implicated in it, the public perception is that the LCS issue occurred when BN was in power.
He stressed that in reality, it cannot be said BN is in a very strong position, it looks formidable only because the Opposition is in disarray.
Zahid had earlier said BN could risk losing GE15 if it is not held within the next few months.
He said the Opposition would use that time to threaten confidence in the BN. Delaying an election would only provide the Opposition with a strategic advantage and ammunition to continue its attacks against the BN coalition, he added.
National Council of Professors senior fellow Prof Dr Jeniri Amir said Zahid feels now is the best time for BN to call for GE15 before more issues could crop up and hurt its chances in the election.
He said BN had also won the Malacca and Johor state elections with a comfortable majority, and hence, it wants to ride on its winning momentum to give it an advantage over the Opposition.
However, he said the main worry for BN is the ever-increasing cost of living, which is hurting its core supporters.
“The government will attempt to win voter support by presenting a people-friendly Budget 2023 with lots of goodies to help deal with cost of living issues.
“The government will want to pass a feel-good Budget 2023 before calling for GE15, which will most likely be sometime in January or just after that,” said Jeniri.
He concurred with Azmi that the sentiment on the ground favours BN at the moment only because the Opposition is divided.
However, in differing with Azmi, Jeniri felt the LCS issue is not on the public mind, unlike the last general election where the goods and services tax was a major issue.
“The government will want to deal with issues that could hurt its chances of winning GE15 before calling for elections,” he said.
