UMNO’S decision to boycott the recent Port Dickson by-election is proof of its insignificance since the Barisan Nasional lynchpin lost its hold on Putrajaya.

Research outfit Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS) said when it interviewed Port Dickson locals during the two-week polls campaign, nobody talked about Umno.

It said none of the respondents had a strong reaction to Umno or the party’s decision to boycott the by-election.

“None of the subjects cared or was moved by the decision. If anything, the boycott only succeeded in strengthening Umno’s continued insignificance in the public psyche. When asked about Umno’s boycott, some had little to say,” said Cent-GPS in a statement.

“Umno, as the biggest opposition party in the country, failed to get voters to protest the by-election with its boycott. This reflects the party’s unpopularity.”

BN chairman and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said the party’s decision to sit out the contest was because the by-election was engineered, held not because of the death of its MP, but to make way for Anwar Ibrahim to return to Parliament.

Zahid had said the polls were a waste of government funds, costing RM3.6 million.

Anwar, the incoming PKR president and prime minister-in-waiting, won Port Dickson last Saturday with a whopping majority of 23,560 votes. Despite the low turnout of 58.2%, he beat former MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah’s 17,710-vote majority in the May 9 general election.

Anwar’s main challenger, Mohd Nazari Mokhtar of PAS, came in second, with 7,456 votes.

Former Negri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad, who contested as an independent, placed third with 4,203 votes, losing his deposit. The other four independent candidates – Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Stevie Chan, Lau Seck Yan and Kan Chee Yuen – lost their deposits, too.

Cent-GPS said Anwar’s increased majority signifies Umno’s “continued downfall into irrelevance” in national politics.

The party’s absence in the by-election also led to PAS getting 862 more votes last Saturday than in the May 9 polls.

Dr Mahathir factor

Cent-GPS also found that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad played an important part in the Port Dickson race, although Anwar’s victory had never been in doubt.

The research firm said before Dr Mahathir campaigned for Anwar on October 8, 32.4% of respondents had been reluctant to say whether they would turn up on polling day.

The sentiment changed after Dr Mahathir visited the constituency, and “the by-election was suddenly legitimised”.

“Approval for the by-election jumped to 94%. Perhaps, it quelled talk that Dr Mahathir had disagreed with the move in the first place.

“Perhaps, the fact that Dr Mahathir and Anwar shared the same stage painted an image of stronger unity. Dr Mahathir is still the key ingredient in Pakatan Harapan’s success… He is still the main man, despite Anwar’s return.”

The team from Cent-GPS, a 3-year-old Kuala Lumpur-based behavioural and social science research company, interviewed Port Dickson folk, collected ground data and shadowed the campaigns of select candidates.

The team tracked 37 people, among them hawkers, teachers, retirees, hotel and food outlet workers, and boat rental operators, and interviewed them at least once every two days throughout the two-week campaign, to get their views as each candidate’s campaign developed.

The respondents comprised 40.5% Malays, Chinese (37.8%) and Indians (21.7%), with more than half of them men. Most of the respondents were in their 30s. – October 17, 2018.