KOTA KINABALU: Familiar faces and candidates with strong grassroots tend to benefit in multi-cornered fights, say analysts.
With so many candidates in a seat, voters tend to be confused in making a decision, and as such, generally go for the familiar parties in such situations, says Prof Dr Romzi Ationg said.
The Universiti Malaysia Sabah academic said that based on how previous multi-cornered fights went, voters often stayed loyal to familiar parties in crowded contests.
“They will consider local issues, candidate credibility, and some may feel confused,” he said, adding that there would a split in votes but candidates with good grassroots networks usually prevailed.
In the Nov 29 Sabah polls, 39 of the 73 state seats will see multi-cornered fights.
The interior Tulid seat is seeing a 14-cornered fight, while there are four 13-cornered battles, two with 12 candidates, six with 11, and nine with 10.
Ten other seats will see nine-cornered fights, while there are eight seats with eight candidates.
The lowest number of candidates for any seat is four – in Merotai and Senallang.
There are 22 parties involved and a record 595 candidates, including 74 independents.
UiTM Sabah senior lecturer Tony Paridi Bagang said the crowded field could see a split in votes, although the general trend of voters is to stay loyal to personalities or parties.
However, he said there were many questions about the real influence or effectiveness of independents and those emerging under little known parties.
Independents have appeared from parties failing to pick them as candidates, reflecting the difficulties faced by political coalitions and established parties in maintaining cooperation within their groups.
“Disagreements over candidate selection often lead to internal dissatisfaction, prompting some leaders to either contest as independents or leave their party to run under another political banner,” he said.
“This fragmentation weakens the coalition or party and opens the door to unexpected outcomes,” he added, referring to a number of seats where independent candidates were those who left their coalitions.
He said every constituency in rural areas has its own political dynamics and fluidity that does not allow for a definitive outcome, unlike in the urban areas.
“Other factors such as intra-ethnic competition within Kadazandusun Murut communities play a major role in shaping voter behaviour and cannot be overlooked,” he said.
