Sabah BN closes in on fence-sitters
(The Star) – Sabah Barisan Nasional is sensing a convincing victory as its candidates close in on fence-sitters who comprise less then 30% of the total 981,814 voters in the state.
With five-days of campaigning left, Barisan officials said they have swung a good percentage of the middle ground in their favour and hoped to hasten it in the last 72 hours before the May 5 polls.
They believed that the initial count of fence-sitters was about 32% among the Kadazandusun and Murut voters and up to 57% with the Chinese, with Muslim bumiputeras more or less decided.
One observation by them was that the Kadazandusun and Murut voters could be convinced to switch to Barisan in the final days of campaign but it may be tougher to rope in the Chinese.
“I believe the majority of the Chinese will make a firm choice a day or the night before polling.
“It is hard to assess because the Chinese-based parties don’t rely on party membership for support as they have only small number,” said a senior Barisan leader.
He said gauging the Chinese would depend on how their clan associations, traders and hawkers’ associations or non-government organisations, school boards and other groups felt about Barisan and the opposition parties.
The Chinese fence-sitters could always swing to one-side at the last minute, dealing a crucial blow to any party candidate.
Among the Muslim bumputeras, the margin of fence-sitters was negligible as the view of the Barisan official was that they had decided to be either “with us or against us” or throw their support to their family connections by blood or marriage.
“Generally, it will be up to the candidate to bring them back to the Barisan side,” he added.
Coalition candidates have been constantly reminded to make their ground assessment accurately as the multi-cornered fights in some areas may not be in their favour.
They are also cautious in predicting a near clean sweep of the 60 state and 25 parliamentary seats for Barisan as last-minute mood swings have turned the tables in past elections.
