malaymail.com | KUALA LUMPUR, 08-May-2018 — With GE14 less than 24 hours away, Merdeka Center today predicted that Barisan Nasional (BN) is leading the Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact by 17 seats, but with 37 federal parliamentary seats still too close to call.
However, another 37 seats, a majority of them in Peninsular Malaysia, will be a toss-up within the margin of error of 3 per cent, the pollster said.
BN’s popular support has dipped further from the 2013 elections with only 37.3 percent, with PAS having 19.3 percent of support.
Malay support remains divided between PH and PAS, with BN commanding 44 percent Malay popular votes. Chinese support has reached an all-time high of 84.2 percent for PH, while they are also leading in terms of Indian support, as they are estimated to have 56.5 percent Indian popular vote for the polls.
The pollster predicts that PAS’ ability to retain one-quarter of the Malay vote would enable BN to prevail in the election.
“The high number of marginal seats implies that voter turnout will be a critical factor in determining the outcome of many seats on election day,” it said.
The survey was carried out throughout campaigning period between April 28 to May 8, involving 1,579 voters.