The revised standard operating procedures (SOP) for the Johor state elections are expected to improve voter turnout after poor showings in recent polls in Malacca and Sarawak, analysts said.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Dr Mazlan Ali said despite the rise in Covid-19 infections, turnout could reach 75%.

“The new election SOP will encourage more party members to campaign in Johor and this, in turn, will raise turnout,” the political science lecturer told The Malaysian Insight.

“I believe it can breach the 75% mark.”

Mazlan, who has already surveyed five state constituencies in Johor, said the people appear motivated to vote.

He said the factors surrounding the Johor and Malacca polls are different, although he declined to elaborate.

He said this could affect Barisan Nasional (BN) as a low turnout is believed to favour Umno.

“A lower than 60% turnout is better for BN than the opposition,” said Mazlan.

Just a week before nominations, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Friday that political parties contesting in the Johor elections will be allowed to hold ceramah and conduct walkabouts, including house visits.

This is in contrast to the last two state elections where all physical campaigning was prohibited. Political parties were only allowed to conduct online campaigning or blare messages from a moving vehicle.

As a result of the prohibitions, both state elections saw some of the lowest turnouts ever with Malacca and Sarawak recording only 65.85% and 60.67% turnout respectively.

In the 2018 general election, the turnout in Malacca was 84.52% while Sarawak recorded a 67.33% turnout in the 2016 state polls.

Unlike the opposition parties that rely heavily on physical campaigning to mobilise support, Umno, which has the highest number of members, is capable of mobilising their vote whether there is any physical campaigning or not.

Despite the lack of campaigning, BN was able to win 21 of the 28 seats it contested in Malacca while its partner, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, bagged 76 of 82 seats.

Polling booths in Singapore

While the move to relax the election SOP is welcomed, Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim believes that the EC can do more.

“The EC must step up its promotion exercise through social and traditional media such as television and radio to encourage voters to come out to vote,” said the PKR leader.

“And it would really help if it opens polling booths in Singapore as there are some 200,000 voters there.”

This issue is important as Johor’s Singapore-based voters are unlikely to be able to return on polling day (March 12) as the daily vaccinated travel lanes with Singapore only allows 1,440 travellers per day.

Hassan said those who were unable to register for postal voting will not be able to vote.

“So while the new SOP is welcomed, the EC can and should do more to encourage voters.”

Pejuang hopeful Mohamad Riadz Hashim also believes that the EC can do more to encourage voters to turn up on polling day.

“Not many are tuned to television and radio these days. The EC should promote the Johor elections by way of advertisements on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter,” said the 49-year-old businessman.

But till now, Riadz said, he has not come across any advertisement by the EC.

As for the new SOP, he said it is still challenging for new parties such as Pejuang as there are limitations.

“The rule to cap the size of ceramah is good as it will reduce expenditure, but it doesn’t help new parties and candidates promote themselves,” said Riadz, who is one of the candidates for the Larkin seat.

“What will help instead is, if the EC ensures a fair amount of airtime for all candidates on traditional media. As it is, only the government parties like BN get the lion’s share of airtime.” – February 20, 2022.