Newcomers to polls must be seen as involved, active - analysts

JOHOR POLLS | It has become a trend for political parties to field young and new candidates in the recent state elections to present a fresh image.

However, analysts remind parties that the focus should be on candidates' activeness and involvement in politics and social activities to win over voters.

Citing the Malacca state polls three months ago, political analyst Azmi Hassan from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia said the youngest candidate could only garner around 1,000 votes, which is a sad outcome.

"This is important that even for the young candidate, they must be active on the ground, be it from the aspect of politics or social activities, in order for them to be known by the public.

"If we look at Malacca polls, many of these young candidates were unknown to local voters. That's why they were unable to obtain what could be called encouraging votes even though they were contesting for the first time," he told Malaysiakini.

For the record, PKR's Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir, 21, the youngest candidate who contested against three others from Umno, Bersatu and an independent in the Malacca polls, only secured 1,356 out of 7,905 votes.

Apart from that, Azmi said they should be brave enough to express their own views on an issue and not be too synonymous with the party's image.

"The way I look at the X-factor of young candidates, it is important for them to be active and know before this (polls), even if this is the first time they are contesting, and that they must have their own stand or principle.

"I am not saying the (opinions of) veteran candidates are overridden by the party, (but) they just simply go along with the party line," he said.

Azmi said that young candidates must be brave and sometimes go against their party's wishes.

In the Johor polls, more than 70 percent of BN's candidates are new faces, while 80 percent of them are below 55.

Similarly, Perikatan Nasional is fielding a large number of newcomers for the polls.

Combination of old and new

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya Centre for Democracy and Elections research fellow Awang Azman Awang Pawi said the fielding of newcomers was in line with the call for political parties to ensure the youth are not marginalised as part of the trend to "rejuvenate" themselves.

"If a party does not do so, young voters will be less attracted to it and will even label the party as old fashioned and not dynamic.

"Apparently, this is closely related to the existing political scenario, where the rakyat wants a combination of old and new faces," he said.

Awang said this is important to ensure the continuity of the party and the country's leadership.

Citing how Umno fielded young and old candidates in several elections, he said the party indirectly refuted allegations that it did not give way to the youth and newcomers to participate in the election.

"This can change the perception of voters towards Umno, which was labelled as such by their political enemies," he said.

Awang, however, noted that the real characteristics needed to be highlighted to the voters are the candidates' natural charisma, oratorical skills, and the ability to anticipate the people's needs and desires to capture the attention and support of the voters.

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