GE15: DAP’s Loke expects larger vote share in Seremban BN strongholds

SEREMBAN, Nov 7 — Incumbent Seremban MP Anthony Loke has expressed hope for a higher vote share in areas such as the Lenggeng state constituency, Ulu Beranang, Machang and Kampung Rawa Ulu.

These areas, Loke said, follow similar voting trends, in that Pakatan Harapan (PH) could only secure 20 per cent of ballots cast in the past.

“In Lenggeng, there is a village called Kampung Dacing. Can you imagine that?

“For Kampung Dacing, 915 votes were from Malay voters and that is 91 per cent of the total vote share. Previously, in those days, this was a 90 per cent BN area, so you can see why they also called it Kampung Dacing.

“But in the last election, Barisan Nasional (BN) only got 64 per cent of the vote. We managed to get 23 per cent and PAS got 22 per cent.

“But all these are the same trend as Ulu Beranang, Machang and Kampung Rawa Ulu — all these we would only get 20 per cent of their votes previously,” Loke told reporters during a press conference here.

‘Dacing’ is the Bahasa Malaysia word for scales, a term that is commonly used to refer to BN as the coalition’s logo is the instrument of measurement.

Loke, who is also DAP secretary-general, said PH has done a lot of work in these areas, including Kampung Dacing, since the last national polls in 2018.

“All these areas have 80 to 90 per cent Malay voters, but in the last election, we got more than a 20 per cent vote share, and in some areas 30 or even 40 per cent.

“Overall, we want to see an increase in vote share in these areas as this will reflect whether they are receptive to what we have done as a state government,” he added.

Before 2018, Loke said PH had no presence in these BN strongholds, but now it is represented by DAP, Amanah or PKR.

“We don’t want to see just an increase in parliamentary seat votes, but also at each polling station because this will reflect whether we can retain Negri Sembilan,” he added.

Lenggeng is one of six state seats under the Seremban parliamentary constituency, of which it is the largest.

The state constituency has 18,636 registered voters. In 2018, a total of 16,015 votes were cast and PH won the state seat with a majority of only 986 against BN.