A poll coducted in Kajang by Universiti Selangor (Unisel) shows that  63 percent of the respondents feel there is no need for a change of menteri besar in Selangor.

Unisel is owned by the Selangor government.

Senior lecturer Muhammad Shamshinor Abdul Azzis said of the 394 voters polled, only 37 percent are in favour of Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (right) being replaced.

Shamshinor said 69.1 percent of the respondents are of the view that Khalid is “a good leader”, even higher than PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, who got 66.2 percent.

Half of the respondents also said that this Sunday’s by-election for the state seat is not necessary.

The seat fell vacant after PKR incumbent Lee Chin Cheh resigned abruptly, to pave the way for the ‘Kajang Move’ to take effect.

70 percent believe Anwar is not guilty

However, Anwar lost his eligibility to contest for Kajang after the Court of Appeal on March 7 overturned the High Court, found him guilty on the Sodomy II charge and sentenced Anwar to five years in jail.

On this matter, up to 68.9 percent of the respondents believe that Anwar is not guilty.

Pakatan leaders have accused the BN-led federal government of using the judiciary to deny Anwar's candidacy in Kajang by-election, but this has been rejected by BN deputy president and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Shamshinor said 34.5 percent of the respondents stated that they do not have any favourite political party, and they are also categorised as fence-sitters.

“The other 65.5 percent of the respondents clearly say that they are members or supporters of particular parties,” he said.

Candidate the main factor

Shamshinor also noted that in February, Universiti Malaya Centre of Democracy and Election (Umcedel) released a finding that showed 59 percent of the 576 people polled wanted the Kajang by-election to be held to allow Anwar to become the Selangor menteri besar.

Explaining the different public views at this juncture, he said it might be due to the sudden change in the PKR candidate for the by-election, which has twisted the trend.

“With this, we would like to conclude that, the candidate factor is an important factor that influences how voters think about the MB issue,” Shamshinor added.