MALAYSIANS vote today to elect a new government, hoping for political stability and better management of the economy.

Pollsters have warned that it will not be easy for one political coalition to form a government on its own.

The fate of the nation is now in the hands of 21,173,638 people who are eligible to vote in 2022.

The lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 has added 5.8 million names –  a 40% jump – to the electoral roll, which now totals  21.1 million voters.

Thousands of Malaysians abroad have voted by post.

On the eve of election day, the Election Commision has received more than 32,000 overseas ballots from more than 20 countries.

About 9,000 voting slips were collected in Singapore alone.

All overseas votes must arrive by 5pm today.

Up for grabs are 221 parliamentary seats, 59 state seats in Perak, 42 seats in Pahang and 15 in Perlis. The Bugaya by-election will take place in Sabah.

The Padang Serai parliamentary polls has been cancelled and will now take place on December 7 following the sudden death of Pakatan Harapan candidate M. Karupaiya.

Karupaiya, who was seeking re-election for a second term, was in a six-cornered fight against Barisan Nasional’s C .Sivarraajh, Perikatan Nasional’s Azman Nasrudin, Pejuang’s Hamzah Abdul Rahman, Warisan’s Bakri Hashim, and Independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.

Only Perak, Pahang and Perlis will hold state elections simultaneously with the federal polls.

Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu will hold state elections next year in favour of preparing for the monsoon.

The assemblies of Sabah, Sarawak, Malacca and Johor are not near the end of their terms.

The general election is seeing a record number of 945 candidates, 39 parties, and 108 Independents.

No clear winner

The main contenders are Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional.

Other coalitions in the race are Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Malay-based Gerakan Tanah Air, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS. Parties in the fray are Warisan, Parti Bangsa Malaysia, Parti Sosialis Malaysia and a handful of Sabah and Sarawak parties.

Surveys do not show a clear winner emerging from the race. This means parties wth the most seats will be compelled to form alliances post-elections to secure a majority.

Merdeka Center predicted that PH will be the biggest winner with 82 seats, followed by BN (15), PN (43), GPS (24), GRS (5), Warisan (6), and others (1). The pollster predicted a tight race for 45 other seats, including Tapah, Bagan Datuk, Bentong, Kuala Selangor and Ayer Hitam.

Pollster Ilham Centre said PH will win 86 seats, followed by BN (51), PN (25), GPS (18), GRS (6) and Warisan (6). 

It said GTA, PBM and an Independent could win a seat each and predicted close contests for 26 other seats.

A Universiti Teknologi Malaysia survey on voting trends on the peninsula forecasted a voter turnout of 80%. It predicte 85 to 93 seats for PH, 40-50 seats for BN, and 30-35 seats for PN.

It said Muda will win at least two seats and GTA two.

Earlier this week, international pollster YouGov also said a clear victor is unlikely. It said PH will win 35% of the votes.

YouGov said PN is set to pick up 20% of the votes and BN to trail at 17%. 

The survey also found that PN’s Muhyiddin was most popular with voters with one in three (33%) feeling positive about him.  

He has a narrow lead over PH’s Anwar Ibrahim (29%). 

BN poster boy Ismail Sabri Yaakob is least popular with only 22% of the respondents preferring him over the others.

Pollsters indicate Sabah and Sarawak parties GPS, GRS and Warisan will play a big role in deciding who gets to become the federal government. – November 19, 2022.