BAGAN DATUK, Nov 12 — The wave of support from the Chinese and Indian community towards Barisan Nasional (BN) shows an upward trend in the run up to the 15th General Election (GE15).

BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the upward trend signals an indication that the Chinese and Indian voters have suffered enough for choosing Pakatan Harapan during the GE14.

"The people must forego and forget the sufferings endured after the GE14 and revert to supporting BN and give the party the mandate to form the government.

"Therefore, this is a good development because the voters sentiment and support towards BN has reached about 45 per cent," he told reporters after opening the ‘Fiesta Balik Bagan Datuk 'Jom Balik Mengundi' (Let’s Return to Vote) at the Bagan Datuk Waterfront Jetty, here today.

Ahmad Zahid also urged all candidates to enhance efforts to convince as many voters as possible to support BN.

"I wish to call upon all candidates to double their efforts in convincing voters in their respective constituencies throughout the country to support BN. They must do it quickly because polling day is only a week away," he said.

Ahmad Zahid who is the incumbent Member of Parliament for Bagan Datuk and who has held the seat for six terms said the election machinery at every constituency has been focusing on grey and black areas to ensure candidates under the BN can win by a comfortable majority.

He added that the support from young voters has also shown a high percentage and that trend need to be maintained and translated into votes for the party on Nov 19.

Asked about a survey done by the Merdeka Centre through the social media which showed that the support of Malay voters towards Perikatan Nasional was stronger when compared to BN, Ahmad Zahid said the BN does not just depend on surveys done by a specific institution for data or feedback.

"I have looked into data from not one but several institutions. The results of such surveys and feedback shows that the wave of support for BN candidates has increased, not just from one race,” he said.

The Election Commission (EC) has set Nov 15 for early voting and Nov 19 for polling. — Bernama