GEORGE TOWN: It is a contest that could go either way but for now, Perikatan Nasional appears to be the favourite to wrest the Padang Serai parliamentary seat from Pakatan Harapan in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) senior lecturer Dr Azmil Mohd Tayeb said Perikatan held a slight advantage in the seat with a composition of 62.34% Malays, Indians (19.30%), Chinese (17.64%) and others (0.72%).
“Perikatan has done remarkably well in Malay-majority seats in GE15.
“But the sizeable non-Malay communities might help Pakatan remain competitive in the contest. Still, it will be slightly tilted in favour of Perikatan,” he said when contacted.
Initially, incumbent M. Karupaiya of Pakatan was set to contest in a six-way tussle with Barisan Nasional’s Datuk C. Sivarraajh, Datuk Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan), Hamzah Abdul Rahman (Pejuang), Mohd Bakri Hashim (Warisan) and Sreanandha Rao (Independent).
But the 69-year-old passed away two days before polling last Saturday, leading to a postponement of the election.
The Election Commission set today for nominations, with early voting to take place on Dec 3 and polling on Dec 7.
Dr Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, who is the USM Centre for Policy Research and International Studies associate director, said Perikatan looked “unstoppable”, having already clinched 13 out of the 14 parliamentary seats in Kedah on Nov 19.
There are 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah.
“The current political climate favours the coalition led by Bersatu and PAS (partners in Perikatan).
“Malay voters are inclined to vote for Perikatan, and the Malay tsunami will likely be overwhelming for Pakatan,” he said.
Another analyst, however, shared a different view.
Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Ahmad Sabri said Pakatan held the advantage as it had been highlighting the racial sentiments stirred by Perikatan in its political rallies.
“People want to live in a harmonious environment and they believe that Pakatan will be able to provide that as compared to Perikatan which is too Malay-centric,” said the former director of the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Institute of Thoughts.
In GE14, Karupaiya won the seat with a majority of 8,813 votes against PAS’ Muhamad Sobri Osman and Barisan’s Datuk Dr Leong Yong Kong.
The seat, which now has 133,948 voters, was created in 1974 and was a Barisan stronghold for more than three decades before it fell to Pakatan Rakyat (now Pakatan Harapan) in 2008.
Pakatan has clung on to the seat since then, except from 2011 to 2013 when its MP N. Gobalakrishnan left PKR and turned Independent.
