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Stop toying with voters’ feelings, Gerakan tells DAP in Teluk Intan polls

The Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election today accused the DAP for manipulating the emotions of voters when it said that it would only receive 40% of votes at the polls.

Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said that it was impossible DAP to lack confidence when the majority of votes the party received in the 13th general election was more than 7,000.

"When I read Lim's comments, I laughed. DAP said its chances were about 40%, but they won by a 7,000 majority in the last polls.

“How can a party which won by 7,000 votes say that their chances only stood at 40%?” said Mah, referring to DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

“DAP always plays on the emotions of voters by portraying itself as the underdog. There is still sympathy for the former elected representative Seah Leong Peng.”

Lim yesterday issued a statement saying that DAP’s chance of retaining Teluk Intan had dwindled to as low as 40%, adding that the dip in popularity was due to race-baiting by the BN.

Lim added that the BN believed that the DAP had committed a “fatal error” by fielding a Malay candidate for the Chinese-majority seat as it would be an opportune moment for the coalition to wrest the DAP’s non-Malay support.

“For these reasons, the DAP faces an uphill battle. And I will rate the DAP’s chances of winning Teluk Intan by-election as 40% to 60%.”

In a bid to boost its multiracial credentials, the DAP picked Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud as its candidate for Teluk Intan, a seat last held by the late parliamentarian Seah.

In May last year, Seah defeated Mah with a 7,313-vote majority.

Mah also played down BN's chances of emerging victorious in Teluk Intan, saying the ruling coalition only had a 45% chance.

He pointed to the sympathy support for Seah, similar to voters in Bukit Gelugor, who have felt the loss of the late Karpal Singh.

Mah also dismissed the impact of the hudud issue, saying Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had the best formula to resolve the matter. – May 21, 2014.