ANALYSIS In the opening hours of the Kajang by-election, BN leaders accused PKR candidate Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail of attempting to fish for sympathy votes, and argued that such sympathy should not be given.

However, some observers have opined that this line of rhetoric would have little traction with Kajang’s 39,278 voters, and ultimately the reversal of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal in the Sodomy II appeal by the government would hurt BN’s chances of making inroads in the by-election.

Although BN had argued that it has nothing to do with the Court of Appeal decision, political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said the Sodomy II trial has already been seen as a political trial from the very beginning...