Ahead of Malaysia’s election… This is a map of party alliances and voting expectations | Policy

Kuala Lumpur- A university student, Ria Kawar, seemed very happy to participate in her first vote in the parliamentary elections tomorrow, Saturday, after the lowering of the voting age to 18 from 21, bringing the number of first-time voters to more than 4 million voters, and around Two million more voters were included in the voter lists due to the introduction of the automatic registration system based on state records, bringing the total number of voters to around 21 million.

Raya is a student activist who encourages political participation, and told Al-Jazeera Net that many of those eligible to vote do not know their rights after the entry into force of the electoral law at the age of eighteen.

Rhea and her colleagues at the private Tillers University hardly distinguish between the parties’ election platforms, but they call for the repeal of the law that prohibits political activity at universities and its replacement with laws that promote political participation through student associations and elections for local committees and municipalities.

As for Ahmed Naqi El-Din, who just graduated from the university, he appreciates the electoral programs that promised to provide great incentives for young people, but told Al-Jazeera Net that priorities must be at the forefront of the problems they face country, such as dealing with the high cost of living and solving the problem of recurring floods, and stressed that raising the minimum wage does not solve the problem of inflation, and called on the next government to look for ways to control the constant price inflation.

Senior competition

With obvious excitement, a group of young people belonging to different Malaysian races reject the thought of defeating their candidate, Alliance of Hope leader, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has been waiting to come to power for almost 24 years. gathered near Kuala Lumpur as part of an election campaign in favor of the Alliance of Hope, when Al-Jazeera Net was asked for its opinion on the fate of Anwar Ibrahim.

John Villa – of Indian origin – prefers candidates from the youth category, but says he will choose Aziza Ismail, the 70-year-old wife of Anwar Ibrahim, who is running for his constituency, because he rejects those around him. suspicions of corruption, referring to the candidates of the ruling National Front coalition. , or those who change their affiliation and disavow their voters, in relation to the candidates of the Alliance of National Contract, which is an alliance made up of dissidents from different parties and led by former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Vila, who looks like he is in his twenties, says he supports the new generation of candidates, but the candidates of other parties do not represent the new generation and are not characterized by integrity.

Not far away, a group of supporters of the National Front coalition cheered for their candidate of Chinese origin in the same constituency, and Adnan Saman says that his candidate represents youth and diversity, as he is 59 years old compared to his two competitors who are over 70 years old, and also represents religious and ethnic diversity, since the Chinese candidate is in a Malay majority constituency.

Frustration and fragmentation

Party representatives unanimously agree on the enormity of the challenges facing the fifteenth election, all the more so since 69 political parties distributed in 6 main party blocs are participating in the elections.

While think tanks and polls expected a major defeat for former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (97 years old), Mahathir mocked Anwar Ibrahim’s repeated attempts to become prime minister and considered him a permanent candidate.

Public opinion surveys ruled out the victory of any party bloc in the elections scheduled for Saturday, November 19, and the Merdec Public Opinion Polling Center hinted at the loss of major political figures, which, if it happened, would reshape the political scene in Croatia. Earth.

In a report published by the Elham Center for Opinion Polling, the Hope Alliance was expected to lead in the number of seats in parliament without an absolute majority and that “Hope” would enjoy broad support among the Chinese and Indian minorities.

The outcome of the election depends on the size of the voter turnout, according to reports from research centers, especially on the Malay majority, which makes up about 70% of the population, which is estimated at about 33 million people.

The Malay majority vote was expected to be split between 3 blocs, namely: the National Front, the Alliance of Hope and the National Accord, and warned of the disintegration of Mahathir’s alliance immediately after the election, which was a recently formed alliance that included small parties and civil organisations.

Despite relying on high voter turnout, political analysts have tracked several factors that suggest that many citizens have lost trust in politicians, the most important of which are: corruption that has gotten out of control, shifting loyalties, and jumping from one party to another to pursue personal interests.

Therefore, the Parliament unanimously adopted a law that prohibits changing the loyalty of MPs after the election, as well as the absence of a large number of MPs from their constituencies and their neglect after coming to the Parliament, and then running in another constituency in the next elections, which makes voters wonder about their successes politicians in the previous constituencies, and about the reasons for changing the place of candidacy. .

In the end, the smear campaigns and backstabbing of politicians, and the failure to fulfill each other’s promises and promises, for example, that Mahathir did not find anyone who would be his ally in this election and lost his popularity to a large extent, so polls and research centers predicted the end of his political history and the history of his family and the collapse of his new party “Bgwang”. Immediately after the election.

Corruption and extremism

Zahid Hamidi, the leader of the United Malays Day Organization (UMNO), which leads the National Front coalition, described the 15th election as the mother of elections and warned of the destruction of the principles on which Malaysia elected the opposition, and acknowledged the success of the opposition in pinning down corruption suspicions in the coalition it leads. , and said in statements by Al-Jazeera Net said that the next government will work to change this impression that has become prevalent in political and popular circles.

Zahid Hamidi appeared confident of a National Front victory and was ready to work with all political forces for a national government, amid rumors of an understanding with Anwar Ibrahim to form a new alliance to emerge as a result of the election.

However, Anwar Ibrahim warned that his coalition would be forced to make concessions to what he described as corrupt or Islamic extremists (referring to the Islamic Party), should the coalition fail to obtain an absolute majority to form governments.

As for Mahathir Muhammad, he is relying on the parties’ need for him in light of the inability of any of them to win a majority, and said in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that he will form a government that excludes criminals who have been convicted of corruption and theft. people’s money.

The statements of the leaders of the Malaysian Islamic Party (BAS) caused great controversy in political circles, and one of the party leaders was forced to retract his statements during the election campaign in which he said that whoever does not elect him, the party will go to hell, and Anwar Ibrahim’s lawyer announced his intention to sue another leader accused of promoting homosexuality.