Anwar the big winner in PD, says Ilham Centre
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ANWAR Ibrahim will be the clear cut winner in the Port Dickson polls tomorrow, an Ilham Centre survey today found.
The independent research firm’s data, however, showed that the majority by which he wins would depend on the number of people who come out to vote.
“The win is with Anwar but the position of the Malay voters will be the yardstick to measure his success in Port Dickson,” said Ilham Centre’s executive director Azlan Zainal.
The former deputy prime minister will receive 64% of the votes with a huge portion coming from the non-Malay areas.
“Anwar will be comfortable with the advantage of the non-Malay votes and this position will be difficult to be emulated by the other candidates,” said the research group.
The study was done from October 8 to 11, involving 817 respondents across race, gender and the locality of voters.
Another factor that will make people vote for Anwar is because he has been slated to be the next prime minister.
“As the incoming PM candidate, it gives him an advantage to shine in this campaign,” Azlan said.
Azlan also said that the presence of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to stump for Anwar on Monday had worked very well in the candidate’s favour.
Apart from brushing off talk of a tiff between the duo, Dr Mahathir’s presence also ensured the swing of some Malay voters towards Anwar, said Azlan.
“The question that now remains among the voters here is if Anwar would still contest in Port Dickson in the next general election as he has no attachment or legacy in this constituency,” he said.
The by-election tomorrow is a seven-cornered fight with Anwar being challenged by PAS’ Mohd Nazari Mokhtar and independents Isa Samad, who is the former Negri Sembilan menteri besar, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Lau Seck Yan, Stevie Chan and Kan Chee Yuen.
The Port Dickson by-election was called after first-time MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah vacated the seat to allow Anwar to contest to make his return to Parliament.
There are 72,212 registered voters in the constituency, consisting of Malays (43%), Chinese (33%), Indians (22%) and others (2%). – October 12, 2018.
