Making the most of super weekend
Reports by MAZWIN NIK ANIS, WANI MUTHIAH, SARBAN SINGH, ZAKIAH KOYA, RAHIMY RAHIM, AUSTIN CAMOENS, LO TERN CHERN, N. TRISHA, IMRAN HILMY, SHERIDAN MAHAVERA, JUNAID IBRAHIM, KHOO GEK SAN, ARFA YUNUS, MAHADHIR MONIHULDIN, CHARLES RAMENDRAN and TEH ATHIRA YUSOF
PETALING JAYA: Campaigning for the six state elections will go full throttle now as leaders make use of the weekend to woo voters to their side.
As today is a day off for all the six states, candidates and their teams are planning to engage voters face to face via door-to-door visits as most people are expected to be at home.
Both Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will be heading to Penang today to court voters in the north.
The Prime Minister and his deputy were in neighbouring Kedah yesterday in the strongholds of Perikatan Nasional.
Anwar is expected to be at several Jelajah Madani roadshows today, including in the Pengkalan Kota constituency on the island and in Penanti, which is located on the mainland.
Ahmad Zahid, meanwhile, will be meeting voters in Teluk Bahang, Penang.
While they will have separate programmes throughout the day, the two leaders will be on the same stage at a mega event in Kampung Melayu flats in the Ayer Hitam constituency.
Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said contesting parties will go all out during the weekend to meet as many voters as possible.
“Weekends are important for campaigns. Parties and candidates will not want to miss the opportunity to put their campaign activities into top gear,” he said.
Negri Sembilan state Umno chief Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias said candidates will have packed schedules for the next two days and that campaigning will be in the form of more door-to-door events, including at Felda settlements.
“We hope to meet as many young voters as possible in the next two days,” he said.
“For the weekend, ceramah will be for smaller groups as we want to hear from the people about the issues they face and what they want from the government.”
Perikatan will also make full use of the weekend to hold more campaign activities and ceramah, and its bigwigs such as secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang will be state-hopping.
Hamzah will be in Negri Sembilan today and in Langkawi tomorrow, while Abdul Hadi is slotted for a ceramah in Negri Sembilan tomorrow.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said the party’s candidates and their campaign teams will be targeting main public and recreational areas to meet voters on the only full weekend available within the campaign period.
“Today and tomorrow, all PAS candidates and their campaign teams aim to highlight their visibility to voters in various ways, in main public and recreational areas. They will introduce themselves and engage voters,” he said.
Apart from physical engagement, Takiyuddin said social media updates and online engagement will also move a notch up during the weekend to woo voters virtually.
Perikatan Negri Sembilan election director Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu said that as most families would be at home, door-to-door visits will be the main focus of all Perikatan candidates.
“Door-to-door engagements are the best for the weekend because families are at home. Perikatan is confident that our narrative will resonate with voters of all ages.
“When we meet them face to face and sit down with them and their families, we get to introduce our candidates and listen to their issues at the same time.
“The main issues when we meet voters in Negri Sembilan seem to be on the current cost of living, welfare and job opportunities.
“This weekend, we will also increase the number of engagements with voters in hot seats such as Juasseh, Sikamat, Rantau and Pertang as these are the state seats which are being contested by big guns from Pakatan and Barisan,” said Ahmad Faizal.
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