PKR confident of voter support, questions timing of UM survey
Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
PKR leaders were unfazed by a Universiti Malaya opinion poll that found a drop in voter confidence against their party, saying they were confident of their supporters and that surveys depended very much on the way answers to questions were solicited.
“We would not dare to be so arrogant as to ignore public views but if Prime Minister Najib Razak believes in this poll, he should call for immediate snap general elections,” PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
“What PKR will do is to to take the findings with an open heart and use it as an indicator to improve itself. We are fully aware of our weaknesses and one reason for our recent ‘noisy’ direct elections was to weed out the Trojan horses creating trouble in PKR. That is the first step. Of course, our enemies will try to use this poll to their own benefit, but true PKR supporters will know our core is now stronger than before. No matter what the criticism, no one can be as bad as Umno and BN. These parties are all using the excuse of imminent general elections to postpone their internal polls and cling to power.”
According to a Malaysian Insider news report, a recent Universiti Malaya opinion poll found that 43 per cent of residents in PKR stronghold areas would no longer support the party in the next general election.
The reason they gave for the declining confidence in PKR was its recent divisive and hotly contested internal polls, which saw the departure of former Umno lawyer Zaid Ibrahim and his group. They had inflicted maximum damage on PKR’s image before Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim finally booted them out. Other leaders in the Zaid clique include fallen tycoon Soh Chee Wen and Salehuddin Hashim.
There is widespread speculation that Zaid’s camp plans to form a new party to act as a spoiler for BN during the next general elections, which must be held by 2013 at the latest, although the current thinking is that Najib will call for snap polls in March or April 2011.
