By Fadzillah Aishah IsmailPETALING JAYA, Sept 8 (Bernama) – Halimey Abu Bakar’s victory in the Seri Setia by-election today is a clear indicator of Pakatan Harapan’s strength, specifically in Selangor.
Even though PAS candidate Dr Halimah Ali tried her best to sell the ‘check and balance’ card, the voters sent a clear signal that the PH government should be given space to continue its agenda without any disturbance.
The former Selangor state executive councillor’s strategy of trying to harp on national issues like PH’s 100 days in power, the 1Malaysia People’s Aid and the Sales and Services Tax also did not “cut any ice” with the voters.
Universiti Sains Malaysia political analyst Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said when there are very big issues, people would not care whether it was holidays or not or whether the weather was good or not and come out to vote to make their stand known.
“Maybe the voters still want to give Pakatan Harapan a chance because their main objective of bringing down the Barisan Nasional has been achieved,” he said, referring the BN’s defeat in the 14th general election on May 9.
On the low voter turnout at only 44.1 per cent , Sivamurugan said besides the by-election being held during a long holiday break, the long campaigning period of 21 days could also be a factor.
“The Election Commission will have to look into this. Apart from that, there was a similar trend as the Sungai Kandis by-election earlier wherein the PAS-UMNO collaboration also failed to sway voters in Seri Setia,” he said.
The Seri Setia by-election saw Halimey defeating Dr Halimah by a majority of 4,027 votes.
-- BERNAMA
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