COMMENT After Barisan Nasional retook Putrajaya with a simple majority, Umno president Najib Abdul Razak blamed a "Chinese tsunami" for his narrow victory, while MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek declared the election results will lead to a "two-race system".

At first glance, it is true that many Chinese voters support Pakatan Rakyat. Yet, making simple race-based analyses of the election results not only obstructs us from better understanding the voting dynamics, but can also lead to distrust among the different ethnic groups

The urban-rural dynamics tell us more about the voting pattern of Malaysians in this election. Just like in our neighbouring country, Thailand, the ruling party holds on to power by the support of rural voters, while the opposition parties are more popular among urbanites...