Akmal set to give up Merlimau to PAS, eyeing other safe seats

Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh is set to give up his Merlimau seat to PAS in the upcoming Malacca polls.

Akmal yesterday thanked his constituents in a Facebook post, adding, "Where to next?"

Meanwhile, The Star today quoted...

Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh is set to give up his Merlimau seat to PAS in the upcoming Malacca polls.

Akmal yesterday thanked his constituents in a Facebook post, adding, "Where to next?"

Meanwhile, The Star today quoted a Malacca PAS source as confirming that state party chief Zulkifli Ismail would be fielded in Merlimau. Zulkifli is also the Jasin MP.

Akmal won Merlimau in the 2021 snap state election - which was hampered by low turnout - with 58 percent of votes.

An analysis of voting data from electiondata.my showed that by the time of the 15th general election support for BN in the seat had declined to 39 percent. However, support for Perikatan Nasional was at 30 percent.

With Umno and PAS playing up a Malay unity agenda, Merlimau is expected to remain a safe seat.

Two possible replacements

Meanwhile, in the post where Akmal indicated he would be leaving Merlimau, the firebrand politician floated two possible replacements - the neighbouring seats of Serkam and Sungai Rambai, both Umno strongholds.

Like Merlimau, combined support for BN and PN exceeds 50 percent, meaning they are likely to remain safe seats Akmal could win with little challenge.

A tougher seat that could test Akmal and BN is Ayer Keroh, which the Umno Youth chief's sworn enemy, DAP, has held since 2008.

Ayer Keroh used to be a Chinese-majority seat. However, demographic shifts have whittled down the number of Chinese voters to 47.6 percent by 2022. Malays make up 42 percent of voters here, with another eight percent of voters being Indian.

The demographic shifts could give BN a chance at capturing the seat if it can sway Indian voters to its side and if Chinese voters decide to either split votes or stay at home. However, it won't be a shoo-in as in GE15, as 60 percent of Ayer Keroh voters backed Harapan.

Also, Akmal contesting here would require convincing MCA to give up the seat.

How about Bukit Katil?

Another option for Akmal would be former chief minister Adly Zahari's seat Bukit Katil - which BN has not held since 2013.

Adly (below) last won the seat in 2021 with 41.6 percent of votes - with support for Harapan in the seat slipping to 40 percent by GE15.

Combined BN and PN support in Bukit Katil exceeds 50 percent as well, and while a likely win for the Malay unity pact, it could set up Akmal to come out as a giant killer.

The Election Commission has set Nov 14 as polling day for the 16th Malacca state election, with candidate nominations on Oct 31.