Its spokesperson was quoted by the Worldfuture TV website as saying that Johor, ruled by the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN), showed lesser characteristics of a swing state, in terms of the probability of it being wrested by the opposition, than some other states.
“Perak and Kedah are better candidates for swing states compared to Johor. There are better signs of support for PH/Mahathir (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) in these states,” he was quoted as saying in an email interview.
The spokesperson said two-thirds of Facebook users in Johor mentioning either PPBM chairman Mahathir or prime minister and Umno president Najib Razak did not show any interest in Mahathir on their page likes or Facebook posts.
“Given all the media coverage on Mahathir in the last two years as well as his candidacy for PM, this is not a good sign for PH,” he was quoted as saying.
PH had announced at its annual convention on Jan 7 the selection of Mahathir, 93, as the coalition’s candidate for prime minister should it wrest Putrajaya from BN in the polls. Mahathir was prime minister and Umno president from 1981 to 2003.
According to Politweet, 66.67% of potential voters on Facebook in Johor had shown interest in Najib as of December last year.
In contrast, only 13.73% had shown interest in Mahathir, and 19.61% for both Mahathir and Najib.
“So essentially 2/3 of Johor users interested in Mahathir or Najib don’t show any interest in Mahathir on their page likes or FB posts,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
On PAS’ chances in the state, he said: “I wouldn’t say PAS has made headway. In fact, if you look at the Facebook statistics from the (Politweet) report, PAS has the weakest reach compared to PKR and DAP.”
He, however, added that PAS supporters were not very actively posting about PAS on Twitter or Facebook.
In its report on PH’s winning odds in Johor for GE14 last month, Politweet said three-cornered fights between PH, BN and PAS would most likely benefit BN.
It said PH could form the state government with a 10-point swing of support leading to a win of 36 state seats if it faced straight fights against the BN.
PH deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin had announced on Feb 8 that PPBM would contest in 18 state constituencies on behalf of PH in Johor, while DAP would run in 14 seats, with Amanah and PKR each vying for 12 seats.
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