NINETY per cent of voter turnout is needed to defeat the caretaker government Barisan Nasional in the upcoming election, said Bersih 2.0 acting chairman Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari.

Shahrul said Malaysia was not a practicing dictatorship, but instead a “flawed democracy” which could be changed if people came out in large numbers on polling day.

“The last two elections showed that things can change,” he told a crowd of about 200 at St Francis Xavier Church in Petaling Jaya.

Shahrul urged the crowd to initiate change by being involved on polling day in any way possible, including becoming polling and counting agents or reporting any abuses that occurred on the day, among others.

“Help your friends. We have two million Malaysians in diaspora and half of them are in Singapore. Help them come home.

“If we don’t do anything, the cheating will continue. Get out to vote and get others to vote,” Shahrul said.

Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism executive director Cynthia Gabriel said it was also the people’s responsibility to encourage those in the rural areas to vote.

“We can’t let things run on its own. 90% turnout, that’s huge.

“Petaling Jaya can show the way, but we need all the other constituencies to show the way as well,” she said.  

Earlier this year, political analyst Wong Chin Huat had said that a low voter turnout of 70% would hand BN a two-thirds majority in the general election.

Wong of the Penang Institute said the ruling coalition’s chances of securing a two-thirds majority would depend on voter turnout. – May 1, 2018.