Merdeka poll: Pakatan leads in Perak

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat still commands majority support among Perak voters, according to a Merdeka Centre poll.

The research firm said its most recent survey showed that 74 percent of Perak voters still believed that fresh polls were the only way out of the state’s political and constitutional impasse.

According to the poll, PAS leader Nizar Jamaluddin was still the people’s choice for Mentri Besar, commanding an approval rating of 46 percent against Umno man Zambry Kadir’s 43 percent.

Nizar and Zambry have been locking horns over the MB’s post since an Umno coup last year installed the latter. The Federal Court will decide who the rightful chief minister is on February 9.

The Merdeka Centre poll was conducted on a sample population of 805, comprising 382 Malays, 330 Chinese and 93 Indians.

It found that Nizar had the support of 59 percent of the Chinese and 35 percent of the Malays, while Zambry was backed by 57 percent of the Malays and 16 percent of the Chinese.

Perak voters are apparently unimpressed by the BN’s performance since it toppled the Pakatan state government last February. Fewer than 40 per cent of the respondents felt that the power grab, which was engineered by Prime Minister Najib Razak, had a positive impact on their state.

Even among the Malay voters, only 45 percent believed that the takeover had improved the political position of their community, while 28 percent felt that things had actually worsened and 15 per cent believed that nothing had changed at all.

“It is very encouraging news, but a survey is just survey,” PKR vice president Dr Lee Boon Chye said. “At the end of day, it still depends on whether the Umno-BN will respect the wishes of the people but the longer they delay, the worse it will be for them.”

“Of course, the people have not forgotten,” said Asmuni Awi, PAS deputy commissioner for Perak. “How can they ever forget the terrible injustice that happened last year.”

According to Asmuni, both Pakatan and Umno-BN have already cranked up their election machinery.

Pakatan has promised to dissolve the state assembly and call for snap elections if Nizar wins the case.

As to whether the state was moving in the right direction, only 38 percent said they believed it was, while 44 percent said the state was moving in the wrong direction.
Broken down racially, the results showed that a total of 57 per cent of Malay respondents and 48 per cent of Indians believed the state was moving in the right direction, but only 12 per cent of Chinese respondents agreed with this view.–

HarakahDaily.net
07/02/10

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