TANAH RATA: The percentage of outside voters returning to cast their ballots in the Cameron Highlands by-election is expected to be low.
This is because the polling date, Jan 26, is just 10 days before the first day of Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 5.
Political analyst and Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) general manager Khairul Ariffin Mohd Munir said it was likely that Pakatan Harapan (PH) would be affected because 20 per cent of registered Chinese voters lived outside the constituency.
Khairul Ariffin said PH, and DAP in particular, was dependent on the support of Chinese voters who were solidly behind the pact.
“In general, the main factor behind PH’s electoral success has been the large scale support from the Chinese.
“Chinese voters make up 30 per cent of registered voters in the parliamentary constituency.
“Will voters who are settled in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru and other places return to exercise their right to vote in the by-election?
“The issue here is how is the election machinery going to convince outside voters to return to cast their ballots. “This when they are faced with increased transport costs as they will have to return to their hometown twice within a 10-day period.
“Barisan Nasional may not be affected as badly as their main support comes from the Malays and Orang Asli as well as part of the Indian community who contributed to their victory in past polls.”
He said studies conducted by IDE during recent by-elections showed that younger Chinese voters were comfortable with the current political atmosphere.
He said they might not feel the need to return home to vote as the government had changed and there would be no change in government regardless of whether they voted or not this time.
There are a total of 32,009 registered voters, including 247 early voters, 12 absentee voters and 385 disabled voters.
Early voting is set to take place on Jan 22.
The electorate breakdown by race is Malay 33.5 per cent, Chinese 29.48 per cent, Indian 14.91 per cent, Orang Asli 21.56 per cent; Sabah Bumiputera 0.12 per cent, Sarawak Bumiputera 0.06 per cent and others 0.37 per cent.