PONTIAN, Nov 6 — With the low turnout in several Pakatan Harapan (PH) ceramahs, DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang today admitted that securing victory in the Tanjung Piai by-election will be a difficult task for the ruling coalition.

"It’s an uphill battle for PH,” he said when asked to comment on poor crowd turnout in several PH political talks in Chinese-majority areas during the campaign period.

Lim was speaking to reporters after a PH Kopitiam Forum in Penerok near Kukup in Tanjung Piai that was attended by state DAP leaders and also the ruling coalition’s candidate Karmaine Sardini.

Earlier, the three-hour-long session had only attracted a crowd of fewer than 20 people, while Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Ceramah Perdana, held in the nearby area of Rimba Terjun saw a crowd of more than 1,000 people.

Among those present at BN’s campaign session included Umno president Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Abdul Awang, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and BN’s Tanjung Piai by-election candidate Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng.

The 78-year-old Iskandar Puteri MP urged Tanjung Piai voters not to be swayed by fake news but instead have confidence in Karmaine.

He said by becoming more media literate, voters would not be easily influenced by these fake news especially during the by-election campaigns.

Earlier, during his speech, Lim also touched on the by-election which he said was not a battle between PH and BN.

"It is actually a battle between PH and Muafakat Nasional. This is why Umno and PAS leaders are having a ceramah," he said in reference to BN’s Ceramah Perdana.

The Tanjung Piai by-election will see a six-cornered contest between Karmaine, Wee, Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam, Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia’s (Berjasa) Datuk Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz and two independent candidates Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar.

The by-election was called following the death of incumbent PH’s Dr Md Farid from Parti Pribimi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) on September 21.

Election Commision (EC) has set early voting on November 12, while polling is on November 16.