PAS had benefitted from a drop in Malay support for Barisan Nasional, a study by Merdeka Centre has found, but it is not enough to improve the Islamist party’s chances in GE14.

Merdeka Centre’s latest survey of voter sentiments also found economic issues such as the goods and services tax (GST) and rising cost of goods were the top factors that would sway the vote.

As of noon today, the Islamist party is leading in only two of the 158 parliamentary seats it is contesting in the election, the study found.

When it was part of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in 2013, PAS won 21 parliamentary seats.

The study found support for BN among Malays had declined from 47.3% to 44.3% between May 2 and May 8.

During the same period Malay support for PAS increased to 28.1% from 24.7% while Malay support for PH declined from 28.1% to 27.6%.

“The reduction in Malay voter support for BN has benefitted PAS more than PH (Pakatan Harapan),” Merdeka Centre said.

But a big chunk of Malay support for BN will help the ruling coalition prevail in many of the marginal seats.

Merdeka Centre projected BN will be returned to power albeit with only 37.3% of the popular vote. As of noon today, BN is leading with 100 seats, followed by PH with 83 seats, and PAS with two seats.

The election has seen an outburst of voter anger over the GST, cost of living worries and corruption, the centre said.

“The top three issues considered most important to the voters were economic concerns at 43%, followed by good governance (corruption) issues at 21% and weakness of leadership at 8%,” the centre said.

Malay voters expressed the highest concern about economic issues at 46%, followed by good governance (17%). Chinese voters placed equal emphasis on economic (37%) and corruption issues (35%).

Indian voters also held high levels of concern over economic issues (43%) and with the need for better treatment of the Indian community at 15%.

Younger voters aged below 40 placed more emphasis on matters related to good governance and leadership, while voters over 40 years expressed slightly higher concerns over communal rights (11%). – May 8, 2018.