Malaysia election: Umno unlikely to win clear majority as glut of candidates risks splitting vote, pollster says
- A local pollster said it was ‘possible to imagine’ that no single coalition would attain a large enough plurality in the polls to form a government
- Umno is unlikely to get a strong parliamentary majority, analysts said, and its Barisan Nasional coalition will probably have to form new alliances
More than 940 candidates will vie for 222 seats in the November 19 vote, with only nine one-to-one contests, according to data from the Election Commission.
Several constituencies will see five-cornered fights, with the urban seat of Batu in Kuala Lumpur is set for a contest between 10 contenders, the highest in the country.
A crowded field involving the three main coalitions, tens of parties and a record 108 independent candidates will add to the challenges posed by the influx of millions of young voters who are voting for the first time.
“Umno’s job has become a lot harder with the addition of younger voters who are not fixated on political parties,” said Ibrahim Suffian, co-founder of the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research. The emergence of new nationalist coalition Perikatan Nasional “is adding to Umno’s problems as it is providing the same guarantee as Umno – to protect Malay rights,” he said.