Fight for rural and Malay votes continues

Swing seat: Barisan stronghold Setiawangsa, which saw a decrease in the number of voters after the recent redelienation, swung to Pakatan in the GE14.

ALMOST two-thirds of voters in the 14th General Election voted against Barisan Nasional, but what delivered the killer blow to the coalition was the split votes in the Malay heartland areas, say analysts.

A three-way split of the Malay electorate among Umno, PAS and Pakatan Harapan cost Barisan many seats in GE14, especially in marginal seats – at least 17 out of 27 seats that Barisan Nasional won with less than a 5% margin in GE13 had swung in favour of Pakatan Harapan in the recent election.