In Selangor Could Protest Votes Menace Pakatan S Hold On State

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Pakatan Harapan (PH) must brace for protest votes against it in the Selangor state election from supporters still unsettled by its alliance with former rival Barisan Nasional (BN), according to political analysts polled by Malay Mail.
(MMO) – However, they said this would not be enough to put the coalition at risk of losing its hold on the country’s richest and most industrialised state, predicting that the phenomenon would be limited to fringes of the coalition’s support.
Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research (NASR) senior fellow Azmi Hassan told Malay Mail PH would also not suffer badly if Umno supporters abstained from supporting the coalition’s candidates, as it was not dependent on the Malay vote in Selangor.
“I think PH supporters are pragmatic. Because if they protest by not voting Umno in the upcoming state election, they are basically supporting the other side, that is PAS.
“Between Umno and PAS, Umno is preferable [for PH supporters],” he said.
With sections of each coalition still against their new partnership, the rival Perikatan Nasional (PN) has claimed it could manage enough of a swing to possibly take control of Selangor. Political analyst Mujibu Abd Muis said Umno grassroots remained reluctant to support PH because of DAP, meaning the coalition could not count on the Malay nationalist party’s supporters for the August 12 state election.
“However, in the case of Selangor, it is not a big issue for PH as Umno is not as dominant as it used to be, due to the fact that it only won four seats there in the 14th general election compared to PH’s 51 seats,” he said.
While PH would be relatively safe against the so-called “green wave” — the term given to the groundswell of support for PN’s religious conservatism from the 15th general election — Mujibu said seats given to Umno to contest in Selangor could be at risk.
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