Ling expects tougher fight in Sibu this GE15

Oscar Ling

SIBU (Oct 18): Sibu incumbent Oscar Ling expects tougher fight in the hotly contested Sibu parliamentary seat this time around compared to 2018 general election.

The Democratic Action Party (DAP) man highlighted split votes stemming from a multi-cornered fight and low voter turnout as the area of concern.

“This round is tougher in a way that we have three-cornered fight or more. I have to face two opponents instead of one.

“Furthermore, if the turnout rate is low like last state election, it definitely is a tough fight,” Ling told The Borneo Post yesterday, when asked if he expected a tough fight in his bid to retain the hot seat.

“Tougher because it is not going to be one-to-one (fight) like before, votes might be split and low turnout like last election is a concern.”

Furthermore, he did not discount the possibility of independent candidates joining the fray, but the showdown will be mainly between DAP, Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).

Sibu parliamentary constituency is made up of Bawang Assan, Pelawan and Nangka state constituencies.

In the 2018 parliamentary polls, Ling successfully retained the Sibu parliamentary seat by a majority of 11,422 votes in the state’s only four-cornered fight.

Ling garnered 33,811 votes while BN-SUPP candidate (the late) Dato Andrew Wong Kee Yew polled 22,389 votes.

Two other candidates Jamie Tiew Yen Huong of Sarawak Peace Party polled 377 votes while Simon Tiong Ing Tung of State Reform Party managed to secure only 176 votes.

On Undi18, Ling reckoned this newest group of voters could well be the kingmaker in the coming parliamentary polls, as they formed some 40 per cent of the total voters.

“The Undi18 or youth voters is kingmaker in GE15, about six million of them (in the country), (accounting to) 40 per cent of total voters in coming GE.

“(And in) Sibu (parliamentary constituency), I have 30,000 new voters including Undi18,” he said.

However, he added, the voting pattern among this group of new voters remains to be seen.

“But Undi18 is the factor that never appeared in last state election, which might swing the whole thing.

“Their voting trend is still uncertain,” he pointed out.

The Parliament had in 2019 amended the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years, and simultaneously introduced the automatic voter registration.

It was reported that around 5.8 million new voters were added to the electoral roll after both amendments came into effect last year.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3CEfSRi
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