Nikkei Asia today 12/11/22 is running a Special Edition on GE15 that will help readers trying to figure out who’s who and what’s a stake. It’s accessible, fair and with enough depth for Democracy types.
Opposition International does not handicap elections: we endorse no parties, but do point out exceptional candidates as persons. All parties should benefit from free and fair elections, but especially opposition parties who face “incumbency bias” from nominally civil service-run electoral bodies and, increasingly, international election observers. The Harvard Electoral Integrity project questions whether now numerous election observation bodies are skewing reports to maintain their institutional access at the cost of clear identification of abuses.
OI’s focus concentrates on the mechanism for post-election complaints and the access to it by opposition parties.
GE15 is a milestone in Malaysia’s electoral history for being the first election in which it is possible that any of the three major coalitions could form government or the official opposition. Most eyes are on the long-standing UMNO and the upstart DAP, Democratic Action Party.
A new factor to consider will be the 6 million voters under the age of 30, which 2.1 million will be first-time voters (18-21). As Nikkei Asia’s report details younger voters are not as wedded to traditional patterns.
Political analysts are looking now at various scenarios for that Minimum Viable Coalition plus 1. The goal is not to under bid or over pay. Conclusion: Malaysia may not know for a time who will be government and who will be opposition.
Our team will reach out to the new (or same again) opposition parties when the dealings done.
asia.nikkei.com/Newsletters/One-time/Special-edition/Special-edition29