Only 34.2 percent of Kajang voters gave thumbs-up for BN candidate Chew Mei Fun, based on a survey conducted by Universiti Selangor (Unisel).

Unisel senior lecturer Muhammad Shamshinor Abdul Azzis ( right ), who presented the results in a press conference at the Shah Alam campus today, revealed that PKR president-cum-candidate Wan Azizah Wan Ismail received support from 62.4 percent of the interviewed voters.

394 voters were interviewed in the week-long survey.

However, Muhammad Shamshinor revealed that around 10 percent of the respondents expressed their unwillingness to vote, and this might be an obstacle for PKR's target to win by a 7,000 majority.

"Based our observation during the first seven days of the campaign period, activities by both BN and Pakatan are not welcomed. And judging from the media coverage, this is the most low-key by-election in the country's history," he said.

Muhammad Shamshinor reckoned that this might be due to ‘election fatigue’ partly due to early campaigning by both coalitions.

This by-election has also been overshadowed by other events like the missing aircraft MH370, haze and water cuts.

 

Muhammad Shamshinor said that one of the priorities for BN and Pakatan is to encourage more voters to cast their ballots to increase the turnout.

 

As up to 75.9 percent of the polled predicted triumph for PKR, he believed that the feeling of a foregone conclusion reduced the eagerness of the voters, compared to the May 5 general election.

“PKR supporters foresee a sure-win for Wan Azizah ( right ), so some might think their votes don't matter, while BN supporters are discouraged as they think BN will not win, even with their votes,” he said.

 

No 'candy' from BN

 

Meanwhile, based on observations in the past few days, Muhammad Shamshinor said BN campaign team did not launch an aggressive “candy strategy” where goodies and allocations are dangled at the voters.

 

He opined that this was possibly due to Kajang being an urban and mixed constituency, which meant the voters were less susceptible to being tempted.

 

“This is different from the previous by-election, where BN approved large allocations to the locals.”

He added that there are 59.4 percent of highly-educated voters in Kajang, and 61.3 percent of them considered middle class.

 

According to the latest electoral roll, there are 39,278 registered voters in Kajang, with 48.5 percent being Malays, 40.28 percent Chinese, and 10 percent Indians.