KUALA LUMPUR – Pakatan Harapan (PH) is against holding national polls this year as it wants more time to instigate voters against Barisan Nasional (BN), Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.
The BN chairman and Umno president claimed this was the reason PH did not want the 15th general election (GE15) to be held before the end of the year, and that it was using the monsoon season as an excuse.
“PH is merely buying time to demonise BN further. They need time to incite the people against voting for BN. PH’s roadshow and campaign is still in its infancy and will only be ramped up next year.
“But BN will not extend any lifeline to PH and our enemies by giving them any advantage to complete their campaign of smearing BN’s reputation!” Zahid said in a Facebook post.
The Bagan Datuk MP said general elections had been held during the monsoon season before – such as in November 1999 when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister – and it was not an issue for the opposition then.
“Same goes for the Sarawak election that was held on December 18, 2021. The opposition suffered a major loss,” he said, adding that PH is “clearly afraid”.
Zahid’s remarks today came after he received harsh criticism for insisting that BN is ready to campaign during floods if GE15 is held during the monsoon season.
Yesterday, DAP’s Charles Santiago called the Umno president a “selfish man”, while Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman called Zahid “crazy”.
“For the sake of power, they are willing to put people at risk by forcing them to face the floods!!!” the former youth and sports minister tweeted.
Similarly, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli announced that he will conduct a digital referendum soon where the people can state whether they want national polls during the flood season.
Rafizi said this had to be done to answer Zahid’s “arrogance” in insisting GE15 be held even at the risk of floods occurring during the polls. – The Vibes, September 19, 2022
