BARISAN Nasional (BN) chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called on the people not to “believe completely” in political surveys.

This, he said, is especially when the study shows that voter support is currently not in favour of the coalition (BN). 

 Zahid, however did not name the research body he was referring to but claimed it was “friendly with certain political leaders”. 

“Recently, various surveys were announced by various parties regarding the current voter sentiment on the projected results of the general election.

“However, the findings of these kinds of survey should not be completely trusted by the people,” he said.

Zahid said this is because there are survey managers who are close to certain political parties.

“There are also surveys that are not close to a certain party, but are friendly with a certain leader or representative,” he wrote on Facebook today.

Zahid also disputed the research method of the body conducting the survey. 

Last Friday, Merdeka Center which presented its research in an online forum concluded that Perikatan Nasional (PN) had more Malay support than BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH).

Studies as of last week showed that PN has the support of 35% of Malay voters while BN has 28%.

The Merdeka Center’s study has been carried out since before the nomination of candidates and involved more than 1,000 respondents who represent the demographics of voters in Peninsular Malaysia.

In an initial reaction a day after the media report on the online forum, Zahid insisted that BN was not affected by the study report.

A study by several research bodies ahead of the November 19 polling day suggests that no coalition can win more than 112 seats to form the government.

Zahid also believes that PN led by Muhyiddin Yassin will find it difficult to even win 25 seats, but instead that they are trying to play psychological warfare on social media as if that can win many seats.

“Hopefully BN members will not be influenced by the false propaganda of BN’s enemies who are trying various ways to minimise BN’s impact on the general election this time,” he said. – November 14, 2022.