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"We are optimistic that we will see a swing in the youth vote in our favor in the coming election," Salahuddin said. |
KUALA LUMPUR — Three weeks to the snap general elections, Malaysian opposition parties are trying to court the youth vote to turn the tide in its favor.
"We are optimistic that we will see a swing in the youth vote in our favor in the coming election," Salahuddin Ayub, the leader of the youth wing of Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), told a press conference on Monday, February 18.
PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the opposition party of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, have launched a youth election manifesto ahead of the March 8 snap polls, reported Reuters.
It calls for free education through to the end of university, financial help for young entrepreneurs and repealing a law banning students from active politics.
"We believe there will be a repeat of the opposition swing in the youth vote in the coming elections," said Salahuddin, referring to a 1999 protest vote that cost then premier Mahathir Mohamad's ruling coalition 14 seats and the loss of oil-producing Kelantan state to PAS.
Youth under 35 years account for almost half of Malaysia's electorate.
In 2004, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's ruling coalition won 90 percent of parliamentary seats, thanks to young voters who embraced his pledge to tackle corruption and open up government.
But a repeat is not expected in the March polls as young voters are unhappy with the pace of reform, simmering racial tensions, rising prices and street crimes.
Angry youth formed the bulk of street protests in the capital last year, including two of the biggest in a decade on the issues of electoral reform and race relations.
The early elections, called by Abdullah on Wednesday, February 13, would see the election of the national legislature and twelve state assemblies.
Candidates are vying for 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state assembly seats.
Young Candidates
As part of the drive to court the swing youth vote PAS Youth has nominated 18 candidates, mostly new faces, to contest the race.
Salahuddin, who is among those named, said 10 of them would ran for parliamentary seats.
He himself will defend his assembly seat in Kelantan, where PAS is the ruling party.
Salahuddin, 46, said PAS and PKR reached an agreement on the distribution of seats for the polls.
The three main opposition parties are seeking to deny the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in Parliament to loosen the government's five-decade grip on power.
With an estimated 800,000 members, PAS is the main rival of Abdullah's ruling coalition in the coming elections.
The party suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2004 general elections, leaving it in control of only Kelantan.
But many young Malaysians remain apathetic.
"I have not registered," said Irwan Zaili Ariffin, 25, a motorcycle dispatch rider, smoking a cigarette with his friends on a pavement in the capital.
"Who is going to care so much about my vote?"
Johann Hashim, a 27-year-old smartly dressed events coordinator, believes the opposition offers no alternative.
"I don't trust the opposition parties with doing a better job because they have no experience," he said working on a laptop at a Starbucks café.
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