MALACCA needs 70% of voters to come out and vote on Saturday if the state wants Pakatan Harapan (PH) to rule, the coalition’s chief minister candidate Adly Zahari said.

Adly, who is state Amanah chairman, told The Malaysian Insight if the voter percentage is less than 70% it will be difficult for PH to return as the state government.

Even before the nomination of candidates on November 8, PH was aware the number of voters who refuse to come out will be high.

He said some voters will not turn up because of the Covid-19 outbreak and also frustrations over the actions of some politicians.

“The voters are no longer interested in voting in a democratic system,” Adly said.

He said there are concerns as PH lost the Bersatu votes after the party withdrew and formed the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition with PAS.

“Our challenge is that Bersatu used to be with PH but we have lost that,” Adly said.

“But we believe all is not lost as not all who left PH are with Bersatu. Some are with Pejuang and some are still with us.”

Furthermore, he said, the people of Malacca have yet to accept PAS although the Islamist party has some grassroots support in the state.

“I myself used to be a PAS leader but their policies and use of religion to garner support are not acceptable in Malacca.

“Although there are advantages to being in a coalition, it is not necessary they will be accepted by the voters.”

PAS is currently facing heavy criticism for its decision to ban 4-digit gaming outlets in Kedah with non-Muslims protesting that their rights are being taken away.

Previously the Islamist party had also kicked up a storm over the name and label of Malaysia’s award-winning Timah whiskey.

Adly said there is also the issue of infighting in the PN coalition, which would be an advantage to PH.

This was affirmed by DAP’s national organising secretary Anthony Loke, who said Bersatu, Umno and PAS cannot co-exist in the same government as they all want to be the lead party.

“Although they claimed they wanted to establish a Malay-Muslim government when they took over last year, they have not stopped fighting,” Loke said in a talk show on DAP’s Facebook page.

Adly, meanwhile said, PH is targeting between 18 and 20 seats out of a total 28 state constituencies in Malacca.

Based on the results in the 14th general election, there are about nine hot seats won with slim margins. Six of them were won by Barisan Nasional with the other three by PH.

The Malacca polls were called after four former assemblymen – Idris Haron (Sg Udang), Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas) and Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu) – pulled their support for chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali.

Adly said the elections this time will also be a benchmark for PH to see how their previous 22-month performance is evaluated by the people, especially in the hot seats.

The PH candidate for the Bukit Katil constituency said, the people should not be afraid to go out to vote as the vaccination rate in the country has reached a high level.

Adly governed the Malacca government for 22 months after GE14 but had to resign due to political issues, which also led to the change of the central government in Putrajaya.

PH has once again nominated Adly as their chief minister candidate.

The Election Commission has also set a target of 70% of voters coming out to vote on Saturday.

During GE14, Malacca saw a voter turnout of 84.5%. – November 17, 2021.