PENGUNDI MUDA DAN PILIHAN RAYA KECIL PARLIMEN: TUMPUAN KEPADA PILIHAN RAYA KECIL PARLIMEN PERMATANG PAUH, KUALA TERENGGANU DAN BUKIT GANTANG

These three parliamentary by-elections furnish important empirical data to measure the present level of support for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The results of 2008 General Election were a major upset to the BN government. BN was defeated by the opposition coalition in five states and lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time in 40 years. In most of the past general elections, BN had an advantage because of its strong cross-communal support and always won in the parliamentary constituencies with a fairly mixed electorate. But in the 2008 general election the BN lost in most of such mixed constituencies. One of the reasons behind this shift is the voting pattern of the young voters who are relatively more aggressive and tend to vote in favour of change. In the 2008 general election, most of them voted for the opposition rather the BN government. These three parliamentary by-elections took place soon after 2008 general election. This article examines the voting pattern of young voters and considers its implication in terms of support for the various political parties.