GE15: Umno's confidence to win comes from weak opposition

SHAH ALAM - The possibility for Umno winning in the 15th General Election (GE15) might not be due to their strength, but rather due to the weakness of the opposition.

Political expert Dr Azmi Hassan said with the opposition in disarray, Umno would use it to their advantage so that GE15 could be held as soon as possible.

"With parties like Pakatan Harapan (PH), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) going solo, the opposition is disenfranchised,” he said.

He said rather than Umno’s strengths, the opposition’s weaknesses will be used as the party’s strategy to win votes in GE15.

Echoing Azmi’s views was Dr Sivamurugan Pandian, a political expert from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) who said Umno most likely wanted GE15 to be held this year to keep their momentum from the Johor and Melaka state elections.

"They would want to keep the spirit that they are seen as among the machinery in the party,” he said.

Sivamurugan also said Umno would think that time was of the essence in making such a decision because if the election was to be held next year, other problems such as global recession and higher unemployment rate could happen.

"Although there are disadvantages in doing this when the opposition is focusing on the monsoon, I think the timing is always important and that's the reason why I think Umno has decided to go with it this year,” he said.

He added that Umno had been focusing on holding GE15 this year since the party’s General Assembly was held in March.

Thus, he said the caretaker, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob who was also an Umno member would have to exercise his prerogative within the next seven months.

"We saw how Umno is trying to focus on having the elections this year. So eventually, after seven months, the (caretaker) PM has to do it,” he said.