PARTIES contesting in the state elections are banking on the support of young voters to win big, but experts say this group is politically “fragile” and “unpredictable”.

They, however, admitted that these voters do have huge power and could be the game changer in the August 12 polls in six states.

“These young voters are the catalyst, the game changer in this state elections,” said Ilham Centre executive director Hisomuddin Bakar.

“But they are ‘fragile’, meaning they do not have a political base and are exposed to trends that could change until the final hour. Therefore, they are unpredictable.”

He said the votes of these young people could go any way.

“Pakatan Harapan (PH)/Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) all have the opportunity to win their support,” he said.

“Take, the general election in November, for example. The Malay youth voted for PN while the non-Malay youth voted for PH. But this time around, after seven months, the youth have gone back to the centre, and they are adopting the wait-and-see approach.

“Because of the huge number of voters from this segment, if one coalition manages to secure at least 30% of their votes, it will only need 20% of votes from the elderly (to win).”

Selangor has the highest number of voters aged between 18 and 20, at 274,194, followed by Kedah (104,284), Kelantan (96,513), Penang (67,633), Terengganu (64,264) and Negri Sembilan (55,017).

The nomination day for the elections in these six states is July 29.

The polls involve 9,773,571 voters with Selangor registering the highest at 3,747,057, followed by Kedah (1,585,085), Kelantan (1,411,912), Penang (1,234,198), Terengganu (930,894) and Negri Sembilan (864,425).

Hisomuddin also told The Malaysian Insight that in the November general election, when voters aged 18 were allowed to vote, many young voters chose to listen to sentiments rather than look at parties’ performances.

“We looked at the last election where PN won the votes from the youth by playing up sentiments, especially the 3Rs. Those aged 18-25 fell for this on social media,” he said, referring to issues pertaining to race, religion and royalty.

“This element in campaigning was far more effective than stating achievements or performances. Many preferred to listen to sentiments and in the end, sentiments won.”

Fence sitters

Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia said PH realised the strength of the youth votes and this was the reason Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was busy visiting campuses and engaging with the Malay voters.

He said at the end, young voters would choose a coalition that can offer stability and prosperity.

However, he warned that no coalition should take the young voters’ support for granted.

“It is open to both PN and PH. It is not like the last election where the youth, especially the Malays, voted for PN. Now, it is different,” he said.

“Because of the past results, Anwar has been going to universities, meeting students and talking to them. He performs his weekly Friday prayers across the country to meet the Malay community and to present himself.

“You can see the acceptance from the crowd. We cannot say the Malays will vote for PN for sure because the scenario is different now.”

Mazlan said PH can expect some swing votes from the young people in the state elections.

“Fence sitters, after seeing what the unity government has done so far, may vote for them (PH),” he said.

“The unity government has introduced several incentives for the youth in recent months, and things seem to be under control.

“I believe there will be a vote swing from PN to PH.” – July 10, 2023.