Mahathir’s Pejuang facing a wipeout at Johor polls
Pejuang members delivering rice cookers for flood victims in Johor recently. (Facebook pic)
PETALING JAYA: Two analysts predict that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s new Pejuang party will be wiped out at the Johor state elections, especially if the party contests 42 seats on their own.
Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said Pejuang would be lucky to win even one of the 56 state assembly seats.
Although Mahathir, the Pejuang chairman, remained an appealing figure to many voters, the party lacked grassroots machinery, Oh said.
“Ultimately, Umno, with its gargantuan mobilisation of grassroots, would almost certainly win by default in most Malay-majority constituencies, followed by a big distance by PAS. Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu would count themselves lucky if they could win at most half of what they did in 2018,” he added.
Another analyst, Akademi Nusantara senior fellow for strategic research Azmi Hassan said Pejuang would struggle to win over voters as the party was not “synonymous” with Johor, unlike Umno or even Bersatu and Muda.
“In fact, PAS in Johor has much better grassroots support compared to Pejuang,” he told FMT.
He said Pejuang would be wiped out if it insists on contesting 42 seats. “They should focus on one or two seats where they have some influence and could pull some votes from Umno and Bersatu,” he said.
Azmi said Mahathir had some pull at a national level but was more unpopular among Johoreans, and was less influential for the state elections.
PETALING JAYA: Two analysts predict that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s new Pejuang party will be wiped out at the Johor state elections, especially if the party contests 42 seats on their own.
Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said Pejuang would be lucky to win even one of the 56 state assembly seats.
Although Mahathir, the Pejuang chairman, remained an appealing figure to many voters, the party lacked grassroots machinery, Oh said.
“Ultimately, Umno, with its gargantuan mobilisation of grassroots, would almost certainly win by default in most Malay-majority constituencies, followed by a big distance by PAS. Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu would count themselves lucky if they could win at most half of what they did in 2018,” he added.
Another analyst, Akademi Nusantara senior fellow for strategic research Azmi Hassan said Pejuang would struggle to win over voters as the party was not “synonymous” with Johor, unlike Umno or even Bersatu and Muda.
“In fact, PAS in Johor has much better grassroots support compared to Pejuang,” he told FMT.
He said Pejuang would be wiped out if it insists on contesting 42 seats. “They should focus on one or two seats where they have some influence and could pull some votes from Umno and Bersatu,” he said.
Azmi said Mahathir had some pull at a national level but was more unpopular among Johoreans, and was less influential for the state elections.
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