Meeting Over GE 13 Strategy

BN sec-gens meet today over election strategy

By G. Manimaran and Adib Zalkapli

September 08, 2010

Tengku Adnan will chair a meeting of BN secretary-generals today. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders will meet today to discuss election preparations amid speculation that the Sarawak polls and the 13th general election would be called by the middle of next year. “We will meet tomorrow (today), I will chair the first meeting with all BN component members, all the secretary-generals to discuss voters registration, strategies — it is basically about strengthening BN,” said BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor in an interview with The Malaysian Insider.
“We are not only going to talk about registering new voters, but also problems faced [by] component parties ahead of the next election,” he said.
Tengku Adnan, also the Umno secretary-general, admitted that some BN component parties were facing problems but believed they could be solved ahead of the next general election.
He said that BN must address the needs of the majority of the voters as the coalition only has about six million members including 3.4 million from Umno.
Currently, there are 11,381,193 registered voters.
“We need the people’s support,” said the Putrajaya MP.
“We may have our shortcomings and weaknesses but they can addressed. We are listening to what the people are saying. This is not an authoritarian party or a communist party where only an individual is in power,” he added.
“BN consists of small and big component parties, but with equal representation in BN,” he said.
The ruling coalition now has 13 members after Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) left in late 2008.
The term for Sarawak state government expires next July while elections for parliament and other states are not due until May 2013.
BN parties are still trailing behind Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in registering new voters. Umno is ahead of all BN component parties, while DAP leads the voters registration drive in Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
According to official figures released by the Elections Commission (EC) today, DAP registered 9,106 voters in July compared to Umno’s 7,230.
Voter registration in June was two times higher, with a total of 48,655 new voters signed up.
In June, the DAP enrolled 20,862 people (42.8 per cent) while Umno only managed 10,675 (21.5 per cent.)
 Between January and June this year, MCA registered 2,917 voters, MIC (1,109), Gerakan (476), PAS (36,618), PKR (13,098), PPP (four), PBS (686), SAPP (218), Upko (241), LDP (37), PBB (649), SUPP (972), SPDP (435), PRS (191) and SNAP (six).
Speculation has the Sarawak state election being called after the Hari Raya celebration, with the general election in the second quarter of next year, depending on BN’s performance in Sarawak.
BN is also said to be considering holding both elections simultaneously next year.
However, an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report last week dismissed such talk, saying the results of recent by-elections suggest that the electorate has become much more volatile — especially non-Malay voters.
Non-Malay voters have been turned off by calls from Malay rights groups such as Perkasa for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to keep affirmative action measures from the New Economic Policy (NEP) in his New Economic Model (NEM) which envisions an open high-income economy.
In an interview with The Malaysian Insider early last month, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said he did not expect a general election to be called prior to 2012.
It is understood that several Umno leaders and BN component parties were also not in favour of an early election.
MI