MUAR: A recent survey shows that Pakatan Harapan will win the Simpang Jeram state seat, albeit with a slim majority, says a political analyst.
Associate Professor Dr Mazlan Ali, from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), said that based on a survey involving 600 respondents, 50.83% said that they will vote for Pakatan candidate Nazri Abdul Rahma and 27% for Perikatan Nasional candidate Dr Mazri Yahya.
"The remaining 8% said that they will vote for independent candidate S. Jeganathan and 8.17% said that they will boycott all candidates," he said.
He said that the legacy of the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, especially his Rahmah initiative, would have an influence on voters.
"Salahuddin left behind a good legacy in Simpang Jeram. The Pakatan candidate will benefit from his legacy and popularity," he said, adding that 79% of voters had high regard for Salahuddin.
He said that the survey also found that more than half of voters supported the cooperation between Pakatan and Barisan Nasional.
"However, about 26.67% of them said that they are not in favour of the collaboration," he said, adding that the acceptance rate for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stood at 55.67%.
Prof Mazlan Ali, however, noted that the study only involved those residing in Simpang Jeram and outstation voters did not take part in the survey conducted from Aug 29-31.
He added that although independent candidate Jeganathan was far behind the other two candidates, he might still be able to gain between 1,500 to 1,800 votes.
"He will most likely lose but it is also important to note that he is popular in certain areas and among the Indian community," he said.
There are 40,488 registered voters in Simpang Jeram, of which 21,005 (51.87%) are Malays, 18,052 (44.58%) are Chinese, 1,027 (2.53%) are Indians and 404 (0.99%) from other communities.
