KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Rafizi Ramli’s ‘Ayuh Malaysia’ campaign that aims to persuade people to vote will be ready to tour the country in one or two months.
He said the team would focus on the marginal seats to ensure Pakatan Harapan (PH) will be ready for the 15th General Election (GE15).
He said that while the current sentiments of the people are against Barisan Nasional (BN), with the exposé of new scandals and bad governance, many also see
PH as weak and not an automatic choice for voters.
This he said was evident based on the previous series of state elections.
Rafizi, who is PKR deputy president, said the ‘Ayuh Malaysia’ truck launched last night would go to the ground and explain to people what PH could offer for GE15, especially to on-the-fence voters who brought victory to the coalition in 2018.
“Today the truck moves, give us one or two months, if Prime Minister (Datuk Seri) Ismail Sabri calls for GE15 in October or November, we will be ready,” he told more than 300 supporters at Wangsa Maju here last night.
According to Rafizi, his analytical firm Invoke’s monthly research found that the sentiment of voter happiness reached the lowest in July, which saw about 80 per cent of respondents feeling unhappy with what is going on in the country.
He said that such a low satisfaction rate also took place during the buildup to the 2018 general election which saw PH win 113 seats compared to BN’s 79.
He pointed out that marginal seats now are different as he expects multi-cornered fights. “Marginal seats used to mean there’s only need for 5 percent swing for us to win. Now we are looking at seats with 50-70 per cent Malay voters which means close competition for the parties.
“Most of PKR seats are marginal seats, mixed seats that can go either way. What happens to Pakatan will depend on the (performance) in the marginal seats,” he said.
Rafizi said Ayuh Malaysia is targeting six parliamentary seats every week starting this month. He said that the presence of the truck will be something that voters could follow while also focusing on the online ceramah that will follow the truck’s campaign.
“Digital audiences are more important, we have been campaigning since 2018 and it is not the ceramah that attracts the crowd ... people rather watch online, about two to three million people watching every month, they will see the storyline.
“The truck works very well ... It works better at shaping and shifting opinion and digital campaign means attentions are held longer,” he said.
Also present at the launch were PKR’s vice-presidents Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and Nurul Izzah Ahmad, Central Leadership Council (MPP) member Akmal Nasir, Communications Director Lee Chean Chung and other party leaders.
