A NATIONAL survey has named opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as among the frontrunners for the prime minister (PM) post.
The survey – conducted by the Endeavour-MGC Research Centre – saw 16% naming Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar as the best choice for prime minister-ship.
UMNO’s Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also Rembau MP, came close with 12% from those surveyed.
However, when sorted according to political coalition, the report revealed that there was a “clear desire” for a figure from the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to be in the national top post – overall, 46$ of the surveyed respondents voted for BN leaders to be PM as compared with those from other coalitions.
Pakatan leaders garnered 24% support while Perikatan Nasional (PN) garnered 17%.
Within BN, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob trailed closely behind Khairy with 9%.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was backed by 8% of the surveyed participants while Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein garnered 7%.
Among Pakatan leaders, DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng received 5% followed by PKR Rafizi Ramli with 2%.
From PN, coalition chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin – who is also the Bersatu president – tied with PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang at 7%.
Meanwhile, the Endeavour-MGC Research Centre also posed a question to respondents as to who would be best candidate to lead UMNO and PKR.
For UMNO, 23% of survey participants voted for Khairy, with Hishamuddin and Najib both securing 15% of votes each while Ismail Sabri and UMNO deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan trailing at 12% and 11% respectively.
When it comes to PKR, a whopping 41% voted for Anwar, followed by his daughter and PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar at 16%.
Rafizi came in third with 12%, followed by PKR advisory council chairman Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (10%).
The research centre noted that despite a significantly high number of surveyed respondents preferring a BN leader as PM, PKR’s leadership is currently “relatively more stable” than UMNO’s.
“UMNO-BN is not a runaway favourite to win the upcoming 15th general election (GE15) despite the fact that PH and PN cannot seem to forge an expedient collaboration for GE15,” it observed.
“This is largely because current UMNO in-fighting and potential GE15 internal sabotage can swing the election to PH and its allies, unless UMNO and BN amicably settle a clear leader/prime minister candidate post-GE15.”
The Endeavour-MGC Research Centre survey – conducted from July 23 to Aug 15 – involved 3,279 registered voters across all parliamentary constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia. – Sept 7, 2022
