Sabah election: Fence-sitters, young voters potential king makers - Analysts

Fence-sitters and young voters casting their ballots for the first time are expected to play a significant role in determining which coalition is given the mandate to rule Sabah for the next five years.

Although all political parties especially the two main coalitions - Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Warisan Plus - have their own band of hardcore supporters, the fence-sitters and young voters can certainly make a difference this time around.

This is the prediction of Eko Prayitno Joko of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), a political analyst who travelled to most of the 73 constituencies in Sabah for his research on the 16th state election, polling for which is tomorrow.

The election is one of the most keenly contested in Sabah's history, involving 447 candidates including 56 independents, GRS, Warisan Plus and eight parties.

Eko Prayitno, a UMS Sabah geo-political and electoral (GeOpeS) researcher, said these two groups would not vote based merely on a candidate's party but would scrutinise them for their credibility and capability to deliver on their promises.

"These fence-sitters and young voters may turn out to be the king makers of Sabah. It's safe to say some 20 to 30 per cent of the eligible voters in this election are fence-sitters," he told Bernama.

Eko Prayitno said the fence-sitters include the politically well informed and educated, who are more interested in seeing a contest of ideas that can effect change in their areas.

"These fence-sitters no longer feel beholden to any entity. To them, whoever is the government is duty-bound to bring benefits to society," he added.

Echoing his sentiment is fellow UMS GeOPeS researcher Dr Syahruddin Awang Ahmad, who said young voters and fence-sitters could make or break any party and candidate.

"These two groups will be judging candidates and parties on the way they champion issues because these voters are more pragmatic and are not influenced by party ideologies per se," he said.

Another UMS political analyst, Amrullah Maraining, said the high number of parties contesting this time would affect the voting pattern and give voters greater leeway to pick a candidate who fits their taste and aspiration.

Voters especially fence-sitters are more likely to be king makers in such a scenario, Amrullah said.

Another UMS political researcher Dr Romzi Ationg concurred with his colleagues that fence-sitters and young voters could sway the results one way or the other.

Some 40 per cent of the 1.12 million eligible voters in this election fall in the youth age-group of 21 to 39.

-- BERNAMA