Malaysian election: with Najib and Mahathir both confident of victory, will return of finance whiz Daim tip the scales?
Polls suggest battle for supremacy in the key provinces of Johor and Kedah – where the emergence of Barisan Nasional grandee Daim Zainuddin as an opposition campaigner has added a twist to proceedings
Latest figures by the country’s leading pollster Merdeka Centre reflect the knife-edge nature of the vote, which pits Prime Minister Najib Razak’s long ruling Barisan Nasional coalition against the Pakatan Harapan bloc helmed by his former mentor and former premier Mahathir Mohamad.
The latest edition of the think tank’s multi-stage poll suggests a pitched battle for supremacy in the ruling bloc’s stronghold provinces of Kedah and Johor – both have large rural Malay populations – but federal power appears likely to remain in Najib’s hands.
The battle for Kedah promises to be particularly heated, with some observers saying the emergence of Barisan Nasional grandee Daim Zainuddin as an opposition campaigner could tilt Malay support in Mahathir’s favour.
Daim, a Mahathir-era finance minister who remains in Barisan Nasional’s linchpin party the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), has said he is “fighting for justice for the people” and is unafraid of being taken to task by the party.
