KUALA LUMPUR: The public, especially Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters, have been advised not to be influenced by voter sentiment surveys carried out by various quarters recently.
This is because some survey managers have been accused of being close to a particular leader or is their representative or close to a certain political party, even though externally the survey is seen as not taking sides.
BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said there were findings from several studies that were seen to be close to a certain leader or a political party.
In fact, he said, there were survey results that seemed to reflect the entire stance of 21 million voters, even though the study sample was made with less than 1,500 individuals.
The situation, he claimed, was largely caused by BN's enemies, who were currently very desperate and embarrassed to face defeat in the 15th General Election (GE15).
"There are times when questions are posed through random phone calls. The voters who are contacted will not give an actual response, especially in the question of voter tendencies. Moreover, we are always told that votes are a secret.
"So the survey sample must have doubted the motive of the caller because they did not know the caller. So it is very difficult for the voters to be honest about their true intentions.
"Nagging questions were asked, causing discomfort, plus the (phone) number was obtained without the owner's permission," he said in a Facebook posting today.
Yesterday, a study by public opinion research centre Endeavor-MGC found that no political party was likely to obtain a simple majority of 112 seats in GE15 to form a strong government.
The study, which was conducted between Oct 8 and 20 last year, involved a total of 1,068 registered voters aged 18 and above in Peninsular Malaysia.
The study also forecast that Pakatan Harapan (PH) will garner the highest number of seats of between 67 and 82.
BN is forecast to win between 58 and 73 seats, while Perikatan Nasional (PN) is expected to be in third place, with between 10 and 40 seats.
Meanwhile, Zahid claimed certain parties were passionate about psychological warfare in a planned way to give the impression that their performance was superior to others, even though the reality is the opposite.
Highlighting PN as an example, he said, the coalition was seen playing psychological warfare on social media, as if it could capture many seats in GE15.
The Umno president said a lot of psychological warfare was being carried out by political parties to convey false propaganda of their respective popularity levels through the TikTok application.
"For PN to win 25 seats nationwide, it is impossible because the number of (its) members is very few. Besides, there are some who are not confident in PN's struggle and there are also those who had left Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) en masse.
"Bersatu stands out due to its large source of funds, besides the ability to put up double the flags (than its opponents) even though the party is only a year old.
"All this is purely cosmetic. The fact is that PN is not popular and has been rejected by the grassroots and the people," said the Bagan Datuk BN candidate.
The former deputy prime minister also asked BN members not to be influenced by the false propaganda from opponents who are trying various ways to minimise the coalition's impact in GE15.
"They themselves are scared. Several parliamentary seats such as Pagoh, Larut, Bukit Gantang, Batang Serai, Masjid Tanah, Jeli, Hulu Terengganu, Mersing, Sabak Bernam and Tasek Gelugor are among the areas (seats) identified to be successfully wrested back by BN this time," he said.