S'wak polls: Figures show statewide swing to opposition

Results of the recently-concluded Sarawak election show that it is not just the Chinese who have swung to Pakatan Rakyat, the PKR says.

PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli said today polling data from 26 mixed seats contested by PKR show a significant shift in support among other Sarawakians as well.

"In Meluan, an Iban-majority seat, the swing from BN to PKR was as big as 31.4 percent," Rafizi (left) told a press conference.

Of the 26 seats PKR contested, the lowest swing from BN to PKR was 0.1 percent (in Machan) while that seen in Meluan is the highest.

Besides Meluan, similar trends were also seen in Kakus (25.9 percent), Senadin (24.6 percent) and Krian (24 percent).

However, while the swing was significant, it was not enough to unseat BN in most of these seats, he added.

Varying voting patterns among the Iban

DAP doubled its taking to 12 seats compared with the six it won in 2006, losing only three of the 15 it contested this time around.

Most of the seats are located in urban or semi-urban areas that have a greater concentration of Chinese voters.

PKR and PAS, which contested in Malay-Melanau and Dayak-majority seats, suffered huge blows, leading to the belief that only the Chinese were backing the opposition parties.

On the matter of ethnic voting patterns, Rafizi said the voting habits of the Iban showed that support had been erratic from one Iban-majority constituency to another, varying from as low as three percent to as high as 60 percent.

PKR won the Iban-majority seat of Krian with a convincing majority of about 2,000 votes.

"This shows that several different issues influence voting (even from the same racial demography)," he said.