MELAKA (Nov 8): Cooperation between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the 16th Melaka state election does not guarantee a full transfer of votes between their supporters, despite the apparent advantage of such an arrangement on paper.
State Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Adly Zahari said supporters of the two coalitions might not necessarily embrace the cooperation, while new voters could also influence the election outcome.
He said some voters had chosen PN in previous elections because they did not want to support BN, and the cooperation could therefore affect their existing support base.
"The same applies to BN. For example, based on the Negeri Sembilan state election results, the highest vote transfer rate recorded was 70%.
"This means that the remaining 30%of BN votes might not go to PN. In Melaka, however, the rate could be 60 or even 50%, depending on how supporters of both coalitions respond to the cooperation," he said after attending a Ziarah Kasih programme at Rumah Awam Bukit Beruang here on Sunday.
Adly was responding to a question about his confidence in retaining the Bukit Katil (N.17) seat in the state election.
Elaborating further, the former Melaka chief minister said the nearly 4,000 new voters in Bukit Katil could also influence voting patterns, as most had no strong allegiance to any political party.
He said Bukit Katil was a mixed constituency, with Malays accounting for about 65% of voters, followed by Chinese (29%) and Indians (5%).
He added that playing on racial and religious sentiments to win votes did not guarantee support from voters whose loyalties were divided among several political parties.
"In the previous state election, Malay support for PH exceeded 27%, and we will try to increase that figure in this election," he said.
He said his eight-year track record as the Bukit Katil assemblyman was also an advantage in his bid to secure a third term.
Adly is facing Muhammad Ridzuan Mohd Sarif of PN, Dr Aliza Che Amran (Parti Bersama Malaysia) and Abu Bakar Sabudin (Independent) in a four-cornered contest for the seat.
In the previous state election, Adly retained the seat with a majority of 1,057 votes.
The Election Commission (EC) has set Nov 10 for early voting and Nov 14 for polling.
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