Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should stop lying to himself or "daydreaming" that Umno still has the support of the youth, said University Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany).

"Prime Minister Najib has to stop lying to himself as campus elections of local universities, specifically one that was ‘won’ by Penggerak in the University of Malaya (UM), can never reflect students' support nor popularity rating for the government," Umany said in a statement today.

Najib had said yesterday that Umno still has the support of the youth , as proven by the victory of pro-government groups in campus elections.

However, Umany rejected that reasoning, explaining that there were two key reasons for the pro-government group’s victory which have been overlooked by Najib.

Umany pointed out that Pro-Mahasiswa and themselves had boycotted the campus elections.

The two groups snubbed the student polls when the UM Students’ Council, which was still governed by Pro-Mahasiswa, got disbanded.

"Umany and Pro-Mahasiswa fully boycotted the campus election to protest against its unfairness and uncleanness.

"Hence, the majority seats won uncontested by Penggerak cannot reflect what Najib has ridiculously said: ‘Students are satisfied with the current government’," the student group said.

'Only 900 students voted'

Another reason, they said, was the extremely low voter turnout in UM for the campus elections.

In previous years, more than 10,000 students voted for their representatives, Umany said, but this year, only 900 students voted.

"Students have used their actions as a means to respond to our call and to prove that the majority of UM students have rejected Penggerak," they said.

Only one-fourth of the students in the faculty of arts and social sciences as well as the faculty of economics and administration voted, they revealed.

"Besides, in 10 seats that were contested, Penggerak had only won 4 seats! This clearly shows that students (who opted to vote) chose independent candidates rather than Penggerak/Umno's macai," they added.

This, they said, proves that UM students have firmly rejected the pro-government group on campus.