Dap Amanah Using Muda To Attract Young Fence Sitters Says Analyst

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(From left) DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman signing an agreement on Muda’s participation in the March 12 Johor polls. (DAP pic)PETALING JAYA: A political analyst said the decision by Amanah and DAP to offer five Malay-majority seats to Muda in the Johor state elections is a strategy to attract young voters sitting on the fence.
Azmi Hassan, a senior research fellow at Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, said the decision by Amanah and DAP was not because they had no confidence in attracting Malay support in the polls.
He said Muda was viewed as representing youths of all races.
“So, the decision by Amanah and DAP to hand over Malay-majority seats to Muda is more to attract voters sitting on the fence, especially those in the18-21 or 18-40 age brackets,” he told FMT.
Azmi Hassan.Azmi also welcomed the offer of the six seats, including Puteri Wangsa, to Muda because the party had a chance to win in the constituencies even though it had no political history.
Former Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer Ahmad Atory Hussain, however, is not so optimistic about Muda’s chances in the Johor polls.
He expected Muda to face difficulties winning any seat in Johor after examining the voting trends in the Melaka and Sarawak state elections.
He said young voters, aged 18 to 21, were less interested in politics. This would add to Muda’s problem of wooing support from this age group.
Ahmad Atory Hussain.“The state elections this time basically involve Umno, Bersatu and PKR.
“It is these three parties that will attract the attention of voters, to see who is most influential.
“Muda and Pejuang are just small parties in this battle.
“It is too early for the people of Johor to give their full support to Muda. But they may consider this new party in the next general election,” he said.
Amanah and DAP have handed Muda six seats to contest in the Johor elections, namely Tenang, Bukit Kepong, Parit Raja, Machap, Puteri Wangsa and Bukit Permai.
The Johor elections will be held on March 12. - FMT

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