Jepak by-election: GPS stands to widen majority

BINTULU - Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is poised to increase the majority of its victory in the Jepak state by-election on Nov 4 compared to the majority of 4,243 votes in the 2021 state election.

Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Campus (UPMKB) Dr Abdul Hadi Samsi said this was due to several factors including the support from Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) in this by-election.

"In the last state election, we saw that GPS's strongest challenger in the Jepak state constituency was PSB. In the 2021 state election, PSB received 2,034 votes.

"If the number of votes (PSB) is transferred to GPS, I am confident that it can be translated into a larger majority for GPS," he told Bernama.

Commenting further, Abdul Hadi said another factor is that GPS is a dominant coalition in Sarawak's political arena and it is difficult for other opposing parties to break its monopoly.

"The voter support pattern in Sarawak is also different when compared to voters in the peninsula who are more dynamic and can change their support while many voters are sitting on the fence...but in Sarawak we see that the people are more comfortable and can accept the agendas brought by GPS," he said.

The Jepak state by-election is seeing a three-way clash between GPS candidate Iskandar Turkee, Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) candidate Stevenson Joseph Sumbang and Sarawak People's Aspiration Party (Aspiration) candidate Chieng Lea Phing.

The Jepak state by-election on Nov 4 was held following the death of the incumbent Datuk Talib Zulpilip on Sept 15.

Jepak state constituency has 22,804 voters comprising 22,761 ordinary voters and 43 policemen. No early voting centres will open tomorrow after the Election Commission (EC) issued 73 postal ballot papers to eligible registered voters including police personnel. - BERNAMA