DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng gave his personal guarantee that “all DAP supporters will vote for Barisan Nasional candidates”.

“And I hope BN can assure us that all their supporters will vote for Pakatan Harapan. If that happens, we can reach new impressive heights,” he said just before the launch of the PH and BN manifesto here.

Lim, however, said “vote transferability” would only work if voters came out to cast their ballots on polling day.

He also urged the caretaker state government to declare Aug 12 a public holiday to ensure a high voter turnout, adding that a low turnout would “not favour us”.

At the same event later, Penang Umno said it would reciprocate DAP’s guarantee of support and its members would back PH candidates in the state election.

State Umno chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir said the party would do everything in its power to give the unity candidates the votes.

“We want to maintain this unity government and we can assure you that all these six seats will be won by Umno,” he said.

A few days ago, a political analyst warned of a potential low voter turnout during the state election if Umno and DAP could not get along as coalition partners after decades of enmity.

Syaza Syukri of the International Islamic University Malaysia said the two parties had the responsibility of persuading their supporters about the significance of casting their ballots, even if it means supporting another party in the unity government.

Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara also told FMT that PH supporters would have no issue backing BN, but the reverse appeared to be unlikely.