COMMENT | Sungai Bakap Part 2: Anwar govt bogged down

COMMENT | While a competitive election, the results of the Sungai Bakap by-election in Penang this past weekend were to be expected; the incumbent Islamist party PAS secured a solid victory.

Voting trends and socioeconomic conditions clearly pointed to the outcome of rejecting governing PKR, as I noted in my earlier piece.

PAS, however, managed to double its majority to a comfortable 4,267 votes. This was due, in part, to a lacklustre campaign by the Madani government that did not inspire gains in support.

From the onset, PKR/Pakatan Harapan never controlled the political narrative and was on the defensive.

This was not helped by growing quiet anger among middle and upper-middle-class voters about policies that are targeting and demonising them and sentiments that youth are being left behind by meaningful policy neglect.

My findings analysing the polling station results and focus groups from the campaign - detailed below - suggest...