SANDAKAN – Albeit losing four out of the eight seats contested in Melaka, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the party could have won them all if there was at least a 10% higher voter turnout in the state during polling day yesterday.
Lim said Pakatan Harapan (PH) got 35% – and Barisan Nasional (BN), 38% – of the popular vote, but this was not reflected in the election results as BN won 75% of the seats, leaving PH with less than 20%.
“This showed the impact of the low voter turnout this time, which has dropped by 20% (compared to the 2018 general election). If the voter turnout was 15%-20% higher, PH would have won more seats. If it was just 10% higher, DAP would have won all eight seats,” he said at a press conference here today.
Lim said besides the low voter turnout, the standard operating procedures (SOPs) that provide for several restrictions during the campaigning period was another reason for the party’s defeat.
“The candidates are not allowed to meet voters, and ceramah (talks) are banned. So, it is like buying a ticket to a concert, but the singer is not present.
“This is how they suppress voters so that they don’t go out to vote. Don’t forget, BN does not have speakers like Mohamad Sabu or Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, so when they ban talks, we (PH) are at the losing side.”
However, Lim said the party’s results are not as bad, given that its seats were lost on a slim majority – about 100 to 1,000 votes – whereas its winning seats had a majority of 4,000 to 11,000.
“We must also admit that our machinery was weak, and it is something that we have to improve.”
Lim congratulated BN, and said he hopes the Melaka chief minister will keep his promise to proceed with the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail.
Meanwhile, he said he foresees major challenges ahead of the Sarawak election for PH, given what had happened in Melaka.
“The SOPs are a problem, (and they are) an even bigger problem in Sarawak. We cannot meet villagers in longhouses, and the internet connection in rural areas is also a problem.
“It will be a huge challenge, but we will continue to fight. We hope the people will know to support a party that is clean and capable of handling crises, not a government that has failed to control Covid-19 and the economic recession.”
DAP won four of the eight seats contested in Melaka, while Amanah retained Bukit Katil via Adly Zahari, PH’s chief minister candidate. However, PKR turned up zero in all 11 seats.
Umno under the BN banner won 18 of its 20 seats, while MCA took two and MIC garnered one – giving the coalition 21 of the 28 seats in Melaka.
Perikatan Nasional managed to get two via its Bersatu candidates. – The Vibes, November 21, 2021
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