Candidates popular on social media have high chance of attracting young voters

KUALA LUMPUR: Election candidates who are active and popular on social media have a high chance of winning the hearts of voters, especially young people who will be voting for the first time in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Political analyst, Prof Datuk Dr Nasrudin Mohammed, said that it was due to the reality of the current internet age that social media platforms have a strong influence on the voters' political stance.

"... even more so when candidates play on issues that are considered sensational and attract the attention of voters. The question of true or false, genuine or fake does not seem to be the main concern of the majority of social media users," he said when contacted by Bernama.

In addition, he said that young voters generally prioritise candidates who are viewed and believed to be able to provide direct benefits to that group.

He said that young voters seemed to prioritise issues that are considered sensational including higher education opportunities, business opportunities supported by capital assistance and other incentives as well as job opportunities, that promise the best and immediate incentives.

"The age of the candidate - younger is considered ideal - gives an advantage to the candidate, but it also depends on some external factors related to these young candidates, such as stature, technical background, locality and also political idealism shown," he said.

In August, the Dewan Rakyat was told that, as of May 2022, there were 21,113,234 registered voters, with 1,141,749 of them (5.4 per cent) being voters aged 18 to 20.

The Johor state election, held on March 12, was the first stage for the implementation of Undi 18, for those aged 18 to 20 to cast their ballots and obtain the experience of going through the voting process to choose their elected representatives.

They were making their electoral debut following the passing of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 on March 19, 2021, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, and provided for automatic voter registration at the age of 18.

However, he said that the Johor state election was not a true reflection of the participation and influence of new young voters, and the election results could not give a clear picture of its impact on the upcoming GE15.

Nasrudin said that by right, the Johor state election should have recorded an increase of almost 30 per cent, or almost 750,000 people, in the number of young voters aged between 18 and 20 who are eligible to vote, but participation of young voters in the election did not have a real impact as a whole.

"Among the reasons are the reality that the number of all voters who cast their ballots at that time was quite low, at only about 55 per cent, while the number of young voters who went out to vote was also very low, representing only about six per cent of the total number of voters.

"Young (new) voters in the Johor state election context did not come out in droves to vote. The percentage of those who voted was very low.

In addition, he said that the findings of several studies conducted also show that up to now young voters do not show interest and inclination and high priority in matters related to politics.

"I think it is quite safe for us to say that young voters will not have a big impact on the outcome of the upcoming GE15.

"In other words, the trend shown is clear that the election results are still determined by those who are not among young voters, whether they (young voters) go out to vote or, as happened in Johor, they did not go out to vote," he said.

Therefore, he projected that the number of young voters who will go out to cast their ballots in GE15 will be low, with an expectation of no more than 30 per cent.

-- BERNAMA