KUCHING: More than two million Sarawakians are eligible to vote in the Dec 12 state election.
An infographic, shared at a gathering of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) grassroots leaders and campaign workers here on Saturday (Nov 7), showed the number of registered voters on the electoral roll as of the end of September was 2,037,648.
This is a 62.7% jump, or 785,634 voters, from the previous total of 1,252,014 in the 2021 election.
The infographic, shared by PBB Women chief Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah at the Sarawak Kita Empun (Sarawak is Ours) gathering, also showed gender distribution among voters across Sarawak is almost perfectly balanced.
Voters under 46 years make up 58.2% of the total, with those in the 30–45 age bracket making up the largest group at 30%.
Those aged 21-30 comprise 22% and 46-59 21%, while young voters in the Undi18 age group – 18 to 20-year-olds – make up a mere 6.2%.
In breaking down the ethnicity of voters, 29% are Iban, 28% Chinese, 22% Malay, 8.8% Bidayuh, 5.8% Melanau, 4.9% Orang Ulu and 2.9% other races.
The Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu are collectively referred to as the Dayak.
The largest state constituency is Senadin in Miri with 74,501 voters, where the incumbent is GPS-SUPP’s Datuk Seri Lee Kim Shin.
At the other end of the scale, the smallest constituency is Gedong with only 10,481 voters. It’s the seat of caretaker premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg.
With contesting parties training their campaign strategy on youth voters who have the potential to swing the outcome, PBB senior vice-president Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the party will engage 18 to 30-year-olds.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the strategy ranged from personal face-to-face interactions to a social media campaign.
The engagement, he added, has been ongoing since the end of the 2021 election.
Fadillah said the engagement was not confined to the youths in Sarawak but also included those working or studying in the peninsula.
One particular programme of note is the annual “Lan Berambeh” where young Sarawakians have a town hall session with Abang Johari.
