Shamsul who? Voters in Anwar loyalist’s seat don’t know their MP, survey finds

A survey of voters in a constituency held by a loyalist of Anwar Ibrahim shows the PKR president receiving only 4% endorsement as prime minister, far behind Muhyiddin Yassin who had 50% support for the top job.

The survey in Hang Tuah Jaya, a Melaka federal seat held by PKR’s Shamsul Iskandar Akin, involving 500 eligible voters, was carried out by Invoke, a data analytics firm headed by another loyalist of Anwar, former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli.

In the survey commissioned by news outlet Malay Mail, it was found that most constituents (89%) did not recognise Shamsul while 74% said they never received any assistance from him.

The survey, conducted over a one-month period between Aug 26 and Oct 2 last year, is part of a wider survey “to gauge voter sentiment six months after the formation of the unelected Perikatan Nasional government”, the Malay Mail said.

It involves 6,000 voters spread over six constituencies represented by senior politicians. Apart from Hang Tuah Jaya, the five other constituencies surveyed are Gombak, represented by former PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, Johor Baru (Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir of PKR), Seremban (Loke Siew Fook of DAP), Tanjong Malim (Chang Lih Kang of PKR) and Wangsa Maju (Tan Yee Kew of PKR).

Invoke concluded that the findings on Shamsul brought into question his ability to retain the seat at the next general election.

It said the low rating for Anwar showed that voters were not only unconvinced of the PKR leader, but “have moved on from the previous prime minister”.

“The lack of confidence in its leader in addition to the low visibility of Shamsul Iskandar as the MP could mean that PKR will lose its hold on the Hang Tuah Jaya seat,” Invoke said as reported by Malay Mail.

Earlier, the same survey carried out among constituents of Gombak, a stronghold of Azmin, also showed Muhyiddin trumping others for the top job.

One of its findings showed Azmin, who broke ranks with PKR to form the Perikatan Nasional coalition with Muhyiddin following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government last year, as a highly recognised MP, with 50% of voters able to name him.

Those surveyed in Gombak also placed Muhyiddin far ahead for the prime minister’s job (46%), compared to Anwar (8%) and Najib (3%).