By Ahmad Syabil Sultan Noordin Ahmad
CHUKAI: The cooperation between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the Aug 12 state polls increases the alliance’s chances of capturing more seats in Terengganu, according to an analyst.
Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) School of Media and Information Warfare Studies’ security and political analyst Dr Noor Nirwandy Mat Noordin said the situation seemed possible because of the political maturity and stability embodied by the unity government.
“The voting pattern (support) for BN is expected to increase, taking into account the grace period after the 15th general election (GE15).
“This grace period helped voters, especially supporters who had previously lost faith in BN, return to supporting the coalition in the state polls and it became one of the BN-PH’s advantages in winning more seats,” he told Bernama.
According to Noor Nirwandy, the victory in Terengganu in GE15 has put pressure on PAS to retain the seats it had previously won.
“What happened in GE15 may continue, but on a smaller scale…the people are beginning to understand the importance of having political stability and maturity in line with the Federal government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Faculty of Law and International Relations senior lecturer Dr Wan Rohila Ganti Wan Abdul Ghapar said the state polls would be a testing ground for the loyalty and sincerity of the coalition of political parties to win in the state.
“We know that the Unity Government which is made up of PH and BN, has only been in power for eight months. The BN-PH alliance must focus on retaining the 10 state seats they won in the 14th general election,” she said.
In the meantime, Dr Mohd Yusri Ibrahim of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) is of the view that anything can happen because the campaigning period is still relatively long and politics is extremely dynamic, with support patterns changing quickly.
“BN will strive to win in Terengganu…the BN-PH alliance must have a significant number of representatives in the Terengganu State Legislative Assembly to effectively carry out the “check and balance” role for the state government.
“Therefore, the highly dominant results in state polls are not ideal for democratic administrative practises,” said the lecturer in the Policy Studies Programme at the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Social Development.
PAS regained control of Terengganu from BN after winning 22 of the 32 state seats in the 2018 general election.
According to data from the Election Commission, Terengganu has a total of 930,894 voters, with 64,264 of them being young voters aged 18 to 20. – BERNAMA
