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Arnold Puyok, president of KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Economic Development and Society Empowerment (SEEDS), sees a “hung” state assembly still possible despite fiercely contested state elections on September 26.
Although it appears that coalitions such as Barisan Nasional (BN), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and their allies are more popular, no clear image of a favorite has emerged.
“We found that in terms of overall support, BN and its partners like PN, PBS, STAR and others are more popular than Warisan and his allies,” he said.
“This shows that the state elections will be very tight.
“But, so far, there is no clear picture of which alliance will win, and there is a high probability that the results will again result in a hung assembly.”
He spoke to reporters after a SEEDS seminar on state elections here today.
BN won 29 of the 60 seats in the Sabah state assembly in the 2018 general election.
STAR, which ran in opposition, won two seats and later joined the BN to form the state government.
However, the government, led by Musa Aman, only survived one day after the five elected representatives of Upko left BN to join Warisan and Pakatan Harapan to form the new state government.
Puyok said the polls will be even more interesting due to the participation of several local parties independent of the coalitions, such as Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) and Parti Liberal Demokratik (LDP).
“It appears that these parties are starting to gain support in some areas, and the parties that consider themselves ‘third forces’ will likely play an important role as ‘king makers’ in determining the formation of state government.”
Puyok also felt that voters’ sentiments about the current economic scenario will play a key role in his decision on who should form the Sabah government.
Other than that, he said, the issue of the 1963 Malaysia Accord (MA63), especially in relation to oil royalties, was also seen as an issue that voters would pay close attention to.
“Most of the respondents (in a SEEDS study) associate MA63 with oil royalties. When asked why, they said that oil royalties are also related to the economic situation, ”he said.
“This is because if we have high royalties, the government will have more income and it can be used to develop infrastructure and help communities facing economic difficulties.
“For us, based on the available data, it seems that economic problems play a very important role,” he said of the SEEDS study conducted in Sabah from August 4-31.
