The Malaysian Insight

MUDA did not attract young voters in the Johor polls, said a research firm.

Ilham Centre CEO Hisommudin Bakar said: “Although on paper it (Muda) could have won the six seats given to it by Pakatan Harapan (PH), it managed to win only Puteri Wangsa.”

After analysing the results of the polls, he added, most of the voters who voted for the youth-based party were from PH.

“We found that 99% of newly registered and Undi18 voters did not even check their registrations when interviewed,” he told an online forum yesterday.

The pollster surveyed 1,391 voters in Johor, and found that most newly registered voters showed little interest in voting.

“Hence, the dismal turnout of 54.9% in the recent state elections as compared with the 84% in 2018,” said Hisommudin.

He noted that youth (aged 18 to 20) are a very disinterested group.

“The difference between youth in rural and urban areas is that those in rural areas are likely to come from a Barisan Nasional or Perikatan Nasional background.

“So, there may be pressure to vote according to familial leanings as opposed to those in urban areas.”

Muda won one out of the seven seats it contested in the Johor polls, with party secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz winning in Puteri Wangsa with a 7,114-vote majority in a six-cornered fight.

Bersatu’s Mazlan Bujang won the seat with a 24,959-vote majority in 2018.

Chief researcher Prof Mohd Yusri Ibrahim said neither the Election Commission (EC) nor political parties had conducted campaigns to mobilise young voters since the Undi18 campaign in 2019.

“Although Undi18 was successfully fought for and youth won the right to vote, there was no follow-up action.”

Unlike other countries, he said, the country’s formal education system does little to educate students on democracy and politics.

“Our students go through primary and secondary education with nothing on politics until they reach university level.

“Suddenly, at 18, they are told that they can vote. How can they do this when they have not been exposed or educated?”

The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu lecturer said the EC should have done more to promote automatic voter registration and Undi18 in Johor.

“We will see the same low turnout in GE15 if no action is taken to create voting awareness.”

Although more than 750,000 new voters were added to Johor’s electoral roll, the turnout during the polls was a mere 1.42 million, or 54.9%.

In 2018, 1.52 million voters (84%) went out to cast their ballots.

Among the reasons for the dismal turnout are low awareness among newly registered voters and political fatigue among opposition voters.

Ilham Centre said the turnout in rural seats was marginally higher at 60%, followed by suburban seats (57%) and urban seats (50%). – March 24, 2022.