Malaysia: Bersatu fears low voter turnout in Johor will result in Umno landslide

• Bersatu has raised concern over possible low voter turnout in the upcoming Johor state election, resulting in Umno’s landslide victory, just like how it happened in the Malacca polls three months ago.
• Party information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan said he does not believe certain opinions that the Health Ministry deliberately inflated the number of Covid-19 cases to intimidate voters into not voting.
• Wan Saiful, however, said that Umno would be ecstatic if people are afraid or do not bother to come out to cast their ballots.
• “Umno’s strategy is to maximise the turnout rate of their staunch voters because the majority of its hardcore voters reside within the constituencies. If the voters who lived outside choose not to return home, Umno will be happy because most of these voters support Perikatan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan instead of Umno,” he said.
• Wan Saiful said he drew his conclusions based on the Malacca state election in Nov 21, which only saw a 65.85% turnout. BN swept 21 of the 28 state seats it contested. Wan Saiful urged Johoreans to return to cast their ballots.
• Meanwhile, Pejuang chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad echoed his former protege Muhyiddin Yassin’s warning that the Johor state election is meant to further strengthen Umno’s “court cluster”.
• This is after Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin tried to distance the faction – called as such for their corruption court cases – from Johor Umno. In an open letter to voters, Mahathir said the cluster would be strengthened despite not contesting.
• “Some voters said the court cluster and kleptocrats are not contesting the Johor polls. That is true, but those contesting on Umno and BN’s ticket will strengthen the court cluster and kleptocrats,” he said.
• He also repeated views held by Muhyiddin and other Umno critics that the court cluster was aiming to use Johor as a launchpad for a snap general election.
• Mahathir, in his letter, said Umno was punished in 2018 for refusing to act against Najib and for defending him.
• “Today, they (Umno) are still defending kleptocrats. That is why my party, Pejuang, will join the Johor polls and will strive to block the kleptocrats and the court cluster from achieving victory. I am confident that Johor voters will be with Pejuang to stop their plans,” he said.

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