DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke Siew Fook acknowledged the low turnout of non-Malay voters in the Mahkota by-election (PRK) and stated that the party would address this issue.
Despite the low turnout, Chief Researcher of Ilham Centre, Associate Professor Dr. Mohd Yusri Ibrahim Mohd Yusri said that, compared to the initially cold response from Chinese voters, the voter turnout from that group was relatively satisfying, contrary to early concerns.
Nevertheless, for Loke, despite UMNO-BN’s strong victory, DAP remains concerned about the low participation of non-Malay voters and aims to work on better outreach at the grassroots level.
“Despite the significant victory and strong support from all ethnic groups for the Unity Government candidate, DAP takes serious note of the low voter turnout among non-Malay voters.
“The DAP leadership will continue to work on providing clear explanations at the grassroots level to convince our supporters about the agenda and direction of the Unity Government.
“However, all parties in the Unity Government must work to maintain internal harmony and strengthen cooperation in order to achieve greater success in the future,” he said in a statement.
Loke congratulated the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, Syed Hussein, for securing a significant majority of over 20,000 votes and praised the cooperation between BN and Pakatan Harapan under the Unity Government.
He attributed the success to the government’s positive economic policies and their impact on political stability.
Meanwhile, Mohd Yusri Ibrahim does not rule out the possibility that the defeat of Perikatan Nasional (PN) could be attributed to two factors: PN voters not turning out to vote or a shift of votes towards Barisan Nasional (BN).
However, Mohd Yusri stated that the significant victory of the Unity Government in the Mahkota state assembly is due to good cooperation between the two coalitions, PH and BN.
“For the first time collaborating in the Mahkota by-election, BN-PH successfully doubled the number of votes to 20,609, which accounts for 78 percent of the total 54 percent voter turnout.
“The substantial increase in the number and percentage of votes collected by BN is a result of the PH-BN collaboration in this by-election,” he said. – Sept 29, 2024
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