KUALA LUMPUR (July 25): The Dusun Tua state assembly seat in Selangor has been the subject of media attention over the past week as the seat was vacated by DAP — one of the 16 seats it won in GE14 — in favour of its rival-turned-partner Umno in the upcoming state poll on Aug 12.

In exchange, should Pakatan Harapan retain power in Selangor, DAP will be allowed to name an unelected assemblyman as the state assembly speaker.

Prior to this arrangement, DAP named a speaker from its elected assemblymen. Its choice, namely Ng Suee Lim, has been Sekinchan assemblyman since 2004, when he wrested the seat from MCA, another BN component party.

Despite vacating the Dusun Tua seat to Umno in the upcoming state election, the latest arrangement effectively maintains DAP’s voting power in the state assembly — assuming it retains 15 seats — as the speaker does not vote.

There are 56 state constituencies in Selangor, and in the unity government partnership, PKR will be contesting 20 seats, followed by DAP’s 15, Barisan Nasional (BN)’s 12 and Amanah’s nine.

It is worth noting that based on the voting population, Dusun Tua has 62.5% of Malay voters, the lowest amongst seats contested by BN in the upcoming state election, and if it were to remain under DAP’s portfolio, it would be the seat with the largest number of Bumiputera voters.

Stripping off Dusun Tua, DAP’s portfolio in Selangor with the largest number of Malay voters would be Sungai Pelek, with 58.6% of its voters being ethnic Malay.

Dusun Tua is one of the two state constituencies under the Hulu Langat Parliamentary seat in the eastern region of Selangor.

The state assembly seat had been won by BN since the 1970s, before being taken over by Pakatan Rakyat (PR), a coalition consisting of DAP, PKR and PAS during the 13th General Election in 2013.

In GE13, PR fielded PAS candidate Razaly Hassan, who won with a 10.1% margin, before the Islamic party severed ties with DAP two years later. DAP's Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof won the seat in GE14.

For the upcoming state poll, BN is fielding Umno Hulu Langat division chief Datuk Johan Abd Aziz to contest in Dusun Tua. The former Semenyih assemblyman lost his state constituency in 2018, and also failed in wresting back the Hulu Langat parliamentary seat in GE15.

Although Dusun Tua has a relatively higher non-Malay voting population, BN is not a shoo-in for the seat, even with the support of its PH partners.

Voting data from GE15 showed that although PH still secured most votes for the Dusun Tua seat at 44.9% in November last year, this was down from the 53.2% garnered in 2018.

BN’s share of votes in the seat also dropped significantly between 2018 and 2022, declining to 14.2% from 28.3%. It is worth noting that Perikatan Nasional, with PAS as a major component party, attracted 30.7% of votes in GE15 — an improvement over the 18.5% share of votes by Gagasan Sejahtera, another coalition led by PAS in GE14.

Read also:
DAP to contest 15 seats in Selangor, conceding Dusun Tua seat to Umno
Run-Up To 2023 State Polls: An uncertain political drift in Selangor
 

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