Opposition Parties Must Form Electoral Pact If They Want To Beat Bn Analyst

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Opposition parties must sit down together and work towards forming an electoral pact for them to stand a chance against BN in the upcoming 15th general election (GE15), said a political analyst.
Mohammad Agus Yusoff warned that failure to form a united front would cost them the election, and the parties would only have themselves to blame if this happens.
"Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional, Gerakatan Tanah Air, Muda and Warisan, please sit down together and discuss. No need to discuss the big tent anymore, just think about forming an electoral pact.
"BN, Harapan and all other parties still have time until the nomination day to prepare.
"I have only one reminder to all opposition leaders: do not blame the rakyat and accuse them of failing to make a good choice if they still fail to consolidate and let BN win again," Agus wrote on Facebook.
Elaborating further, the former Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia political science professor stressed that the situation now sees BN united to face GE15 when the opposition parties are not.
Thus, Agus added, he penned the opinion to show the importance of having unity and cooperation for parties who really want to achieve victory in the polls.
‘Elite consolidation’
According to the analyst, a study by democracy studies scholar Larry Diamond showed that having "elite consolidation" is very important to project an image of unity.
"Without a united front, it would be very hard for them to defeat the ruling regime because the rakyat would not have confidence in parties which cannot promise stability and unity,” he said.
Political analyst Mohammad Agus YusoffHe cited BN’s failure to win even one seat in Kelantan during the 1990 general election as the united image and elite consolidation between PAS and Semangat 46 then was very strong.
"In Indonesia, its reformation movement succeeded because their elites were not united to support the Suharto regime. In Malaysia, BN managed to continue being in power because of (former premier) Dr Mahathir Mohamad's capability of glueing together BN political elites and not against his leadership.
"The same will happen in GE15. BN is united and because of this, they were confident to dissolve Parliament. The opposition was against it because they knew how fragile their cooperation is," he said.
Agus added that the opposition’s reason for not wanting an election now due to the monsoon season was also weak as they were the ones who called for GE15 after 36 months passed from the last election.
"Does BN have a chance to win? While there are so many issues that are not on BN's side, they still stand a bigger chance if the opposition continues to be disunited. Issues, manifestos, candidates, election machinery and other aspects are important in an election, but not as much as having elite consolidation and unity.
"Thus, it is more important for the opposition leaders to consolidate. It won't be easy because each of them has histories with the other. The Sheraton Move and other betrayals are among the pain that is not easy for one to forget, and this will be a challenge for the leaders to overcome.
"How to come together and cooperate? They need to have a big heart and take the first step of having at least an electoral pact. Only by doing this, they can make this GE15 more interesting and give a promising future for our beloved country." - Mkini

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