BN hopes to exploit PAS-DAP split to win back Perak

BARISAN Nasional (BN) may win 36 or more state seats in Perak in the 14th general election (GE14) should the new political equation result in three- or more multi-cornered fights.
In the 2013 general election, BN, which toppled Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the 2009 power grab, won 31 seats to retain power, but was a few seats short of the two-thirds majority it enjoyed prior to the 2008 polls. PR garnered 28 seats through DAP (18 seats), PKR (five) and PAS (five).
Four years on, after leaving PR, which morphed into Pakatan Harapan (PH) with two new components – Parti Amanan Negara and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, PAS has said that it does not discount the likelihood of fielding candidates in all the seats PH is set to contest, making it at least a three-cornered fight in these constituencies.
According to a report in Sin Chew Daily today, a contest with three or more candidates will split votes and favour BN, thus putting paid to PH's attempt to wrest power from BN again.
In GE13BN won with a very slim majority in Lubok Merbau (53 votes), Manjoi (132 votes) and Manong (231 votes), whereas PR retained Selinsing and Kuala Sapetang with a small majority of 809 and 758 votes respectively.
These five 50-50 or marginal seats are likely to see a concentration of firepower from both BN and PH in their attempts to secure a victory.
Sources pointed out that PAS, which owed it to DAP to deliver Chinese votes in the last two elections, will lose Chinese support this time around following the fallout between the parties.
It is learnt BN has vowed to wrest back five seats with Chinese making up between 12.71 and 30.58% of the votes.
They are Titi Serong, Gunong Semanggol, Selinsing, Pasir Panjang and Changkat Jong, all of which are held by PAS.
The report said MCA, which was reduced to one seat in the last election, has a good chance of recapturing Tebing Tinggi and Teja whereas Gerakan, which did not win any seats in the last two polls, may win back the Kuala Sepetang and Aulong seats.