THE Election Commission’s decision to set polling day for the 14th general election on Wednesday will do more harm to Barisan Nasional than the opposition, according to a recent study.

This is because the mid-week polling day is seen by opposition supporters as an effort to stop voters from returning home, thus emboldening them to defy the perceived obstruction.

In a study conducted on voters who live in the Klang Valley but who are registered to vote in their hometowns outside the city, opposition supporters indicated that they were willing to travel even though polling day falls on May 9.

The study was conducted by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) lecturer Dr Mazlan Ali and his colleagues.

“From 384 respondents in the Klang Valley, 77% said they would go home to vote. Most of them are outraged by the EC and BN for setting the polling day on a working day and are determined to go home and vote for the opposition,” said Dr Mazlan.

“Meanwhile, the other 23% did not indicate if they are going back to vote and most are youth voters that can be termed as fence-sitters.”

The study was conducted after the EC announced that the nomination date will be on April 28 while polling day will be on May 9.

The government later set May 9 to be a public holiday.

Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad has announced that PH will grant public holidays the next two days if the opposition wins in GE14.

According to Dr Mazlan, the PAS government in Kelantan obtained good results in the 2008 and 2013 general elections because of the contribution of outside voters.

“Research from my team also found outside voters saved the PAS government in Kelantan in 2004 when the Pak Lah blue wave took over the general election,” he said, referring to the wave of acceptance that former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi enjoyed when he first took office from Dr Mahathir. – April 30, 2018.