PETALING JAYA: Malay support towards Perikatan Nasional has remained steady throughout all recent by-elections, and this will give the coalition an edge in the Nenggiri by-election, said a top leader.

This is because about 85% of Nenggiri’s over 20,259 voters are Malays, said Dr Afif Bahardin of the Perikatan component party, Bersatu.

At the same time, Perikatan is also making inroads into the constituency’s Orang Asli community, which makes up about 13% of the area’s voters, said the Selangor Perikatan secretary and Bersatu supreme council member.

“We have broken the hardcore support Umno received in Gua Musang and Nenggiri before,” he said, referring to Gua Musang, the parliamentary seat in Kelantan and Umno stronghold which Perikatan had captured in the 15th General Election.

“The rate of support for us has not gone down.

“In fact, we have seen an increase in support since the 2023 state election. That rate is 78% to 80% of support from Malays, and we saw that in Sungai Bakap (a by-election for a state seat in Penang that took place on July 6).”

“And I believe that it will remain the same in Nenggiri,” Dr Afif said on an episode of the “Wacana Sinar” programme hosted by Sinar Harian Online on Tuesday.

In the Sungai Bakap by-election, Perikatan defeated Pakatan Harapan to hold on to the state seat with a 4,267-vote majority, a larger margin than the 1,563 votes it achieved in the 2023 state election.

Perikatan now faces Barisan Nasional to retain the Nenggiri state seat which was declared vacant after Kelantan state assembly speaker Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah ruled that its incumbent, Mohd Azizi Abu Naim, breached the anti-hopping law.

Dr Afif added that Perikatan, which governs Kelantan, had started working the ground in Nenggiri ever since the seat was declared vacant in June.

“Feedback from the residents towards us has been very good,” he said.

“We have also identified about 2,000 outstation voters, and we will do as much as we can to bring them back to vote.”

Perikatan has fielded state religious education coordinator Mohd Rizwadi Ismail against Barisan’s Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani.

In the Kelantan state election last year, Perikatan managed to capture Nenggiri from Barisan by a majority of 810 votes.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/08/08/perikatan-confident-ahead-of-polls