10-cornered contest in Batu, nine-cornered in Ampang, 82 four-cornered elsewhere

KUALA LUMPUR: A 10-cornered contest for the Batu parliamentary seat in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur may be the most exciting and gripping in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15).

Its incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) P. Prabakaran is also contesting the seat this time on a Pakatan Harapan (PH) ticket together with former Foreign Minister Datuk A. Kohilan Pillay from Barisan Nasional (BN), Azhar Yahya (PN) and lawyer Wan Azliana Wan Adnan (Pejuang).

Even more interesting is the re-emergence of Batu former Member of Parliament (MP), Chua Tian Chang @ Tian Chua in vying for the seat as an Independent, besides Naganathan Pillai (Warisan); Mohd Zulkifli Abdul Fattah (Parti Rakyat Malaysia); lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim, better known as Siti Kasim; social media influencer Nur Fathiah Syazwan Shaharudin who is also known as Cleopatra; and Too Cheng Huat who are contesting as Independents.

A nine-cornered contest will be seen in Ampang, with Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin defending the seat on a Parti Bangsa Malaysia ticket against six candidates representing various political parties and three Independents.

There will be eight-cornered contests in the Sepang, Bangi and Kota Raja parliamentary constituencies with the focus being on Sepang which will see PN Wanita chief, Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun facing seven challengers for the seat which was won by an Amanah candidate in GE14, besides its president Mohamad Sabu winning in Kota Raja.

The GE15 will also see seven-cornered contests in five parliamentary constituencies, with the Sungai Siput seat deemed as among the most interesting with its incumbent MP, S. Kesavan from PH facing MIC president, Tan Sri S.A .Vigneswaran from BN and five other contenders including three Independents going for the hot seat.

Meanwhile, six-cornered contests will be seen in 24 parliamentary constituencies, five-cornered in 43 and and the four-cornered in 82, the most out of a total of 222 seats.

Of the four-cornered contests, the focus will be on Tambun which will see PKR president, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim challenged by the incumbent, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu and two others from BN and Pejuang, respectively.

Anwar's eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah, will be contesting to retain Permatang Pauh, a PKR traditional seat in a four-cornered fight against BN's Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd, Muhammad Fawwaz Mat Jan from PN and Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) candidate, Mohd Nasir Othman.

BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will also be in a four-cornered contest while UMNO Supreme Council member, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican will be facing a stiff contest to retain the Kepala Batas seat, one of two won by UMNO in Penang previously.

Three-cornered contests will involve 54 parliamentary seats, whereby Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be facing two other contenders for the Bera seat.

One-on-one contests will be seen in nine parliamentary constituencies, namely, Kinabatangan, Kota Samarahan, Batang Sadong,Tanjong Manis, Igan, Sarikei, Mukah, Hulu Rajang and Limbang.

With regard to the State Legislative Assembly seats, three-cornered contests will be the most, involving 51 constituencies, followed by the four-cornered (47), five-cornered (12) and six-cornered (four).

Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man, the incumbent for Bintong, will be in a six-cornered contest while Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail will be defending the Jelai seat against three other contenders.

There will only be one one-on-one contest in Pahang, namely, Kemayan, and two seven-cornered contests in Chenderiang, Perak and in Bugaya, Sabah.

Political and international relations analyst at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Prof Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani said the many multi-cornered contests in GE15 could be confusing for the voters in choosing the best candidates in view of the political parties in this country not being based on political ideology but race.

He said the existence of many new political parties was also the cause for many multi-cornered contests in GE15.

"In fact, the increase in Independent candidates for the parliamentary seats this time to 108 from 24 in GE14 has also resulted in many multi-cornered contests in some constituencies, hence causing split votes and lower majority.

"When there are conflicts within some political parties, those who leave will form new parties with their own directions and offering services that are acceptable to the people, hence they will dare to contest, resulting in multi-cornered fights in a constituency.

"The brands of the new political parties are almost similar with the old, but a different policy and candidates who can attract followers will be able to win the hearts of the people," he said.

The Election Commission has set 14 days for campaigning from today before early voting on Nov 15 and polling on Nov 19.

-- BERNAMA