Breakfast round: Zuraida meeting with voters in Gong Kapas, Kuala Terengganu.
Political parties to shift into high gear during final week
PETALING JAYA: As the official campaign period for the six state polls reaches the midway point, political parties are shifting into high gear to meet every single voter in the 245 seats that are up for grabs.
In Terengganu, coalitions contesting the state polls have reactivated their ceramah circuits after taking a break to respect the passing of Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin’s mother Yang Teramat Mulia Tengku Besar Terengganu Fatimah @ Sharifah Nong Alsagoff Abdillah.
Perikatan Nasional held four cluster ceramah for its candidates in Alur Limbat, Bukit Besar, Batu Rakit and Chabang Tiga last night.
Candidates from Barisan Nasional, its ally Pakatan Harapan, and their rival Perikatan spent the weekend, which begins on Friday in Terengganu, meeting voters at popular coffee shops, markets and food courts.
In Kuala Terengganu, Perikatan candidate for the Ladang seat, Zuraida Md Noor, spent the morning meeting voters who were having breakfast in Gong Kapas, and visited influential community leaders in Jalan Terkukur in the afternoon.
She then joined the Perikatan candidate for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat, Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim, for a ceramah in Bukit Besar in the evening.
“As a new candidate, I have to go all out to meet as many voters as I can. My mornings are spent meeting people at coffee shops and markets, and later I meet people in small groups,” Zuraida said when met.
“The response has been quite positive. If many were silent voters before, now they are more open in showing their support,” said the former senator.
In the days before polling on Aug 12, Zuraida said she and her machinery would attempt to meet as many people as possible in the constituency of more than 22,000 voters.
She faces Barisan’s Sabri Alwi in Ladang, which was won by PAS with a 363-vote majority in the 2018 election.
Pakatan and Barisan are taking on Perikatan, comprising PAS and Bersatu, for the 32 state seats in Terengganu as well as the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat.
Officials in Barisan and Pakatan say the political temperature in Terengganu is expected to heat up after the weekend as the campaign enters its second and most crucial week with the arrival of several big names.
Top of the list is Prime Minister and Pakatan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who will be returning to stump for Barisan and Pakatan candidates on Aug 9.
Sources in Pakatan and Barisan said Anwar’s schedule in Terengganu is still being worked on after an earlier visit on Aug 6 was postponed.
Also expected to come to the oil-rich state is former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail from Pakatan and her party colleagues Fadhlina Sidek, who is also Education Minister, and Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Senator Fuziah Salleh.
Barisan’s Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin is also expected to arrive today.
On the Perikatan side, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang is expected to campaign throughout Terengganu on Aug 8.
There has been no word yet on whether Bersatu’s national leaders are coming, however.
In Kelantan, PAS and Perikatan members are going all out on social media, especially YouTube and TikTok, to win the hearts of voters, with many clips highlighting ceramah by famous speakers.
More ceramah and bigger crowds are also expected during the second week of campaigning as more big guns are scheduled to appear here, both from Pakatan-Barisan and PAS-Perikatan.
Although PAS leaders have expressed confidence that the party will secure all 45 seats in the state, there is optimism that Pakatan-Barisan could score between three and fours seats, including the urban Kota Lama constituency.
Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said the prediction could come true if party workers from Pakatan-Barisan, especially Umno’s wings – Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri – can better coordinate their campaigns.
“On social media, I have yet to see a big-scale war of campaigns that can rival PAS-Perikatan. This is a challenge for them, but since they still have time, improvements must be made soon,” he said when contacted.
In Negri Sembilan, the Pakatan-Barisan campaign is expected to receive a boost from Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan, who is up and about after being waylaid by influenza over the past few days.
While no mega ceramah is planned after top party leaders made their rounds last week, candidates are now busying themselves with personally meeting their voters.
State Umno chief Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias said campaigning for the weekend would be mainly in the form of door-to-door events, including at Felda settlements.
“We hope to meet as many young voters as possible over the weekend. In the next two days, there will only be ceramah for smaller groups all over the state as we want to hear the issues faced by the people and what they want,” he said, adding that all candidates had packed schedules.
Jalaluddin also made it a point to talk to Umno candidates at the end of each day to see if they had any issues.
“I ask them every day if they have any outstanding matters so that we will not be caught off-guard later.
“I also ask for feedback to see how we can do even better,” he said, adding that he was confident the Pakatan-Barisan pact would make a clean sweep of seats in the state.
