Unfavourable outcome a lesson for Pakatan Harapan, says national PKR veep

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KUCHING: There are lessons to be learnt by Pakatan Harapan in the just-concluded 11th state election, which saw a low turnout rate of voters this time — at about 60 per cent.

National PKR vice president Dr Xavier Jayakumar said the poor performance by the party this time around could be attributed to a number of factors, but the most prominent were the unfavourable standards in the election process, as well as the banning of opposition leaders and politicians from Peninsular Malaysia.

“It is disappointing and I hope that such standards would not be followed by other states,” he told reporters at PKR headquarters yesterday, as he highlighted the ‘massive’ amount of money poured into Sarawak by Barisan Nasional (BN) throughout the election period, from nomination day on April 25 up to May 6.

“It involved RM382 million, inclusive of projects and goodwill (pledges) in different areas.”

Nevertheless, Xavier assured the people that PKR would keep an eye on the promises given by the BN and see if they would be followed through over the next five years.

Additionally, he expressed disappointment with the Election Commission (EC) for total non-interference throughout the whole democratic process by BN throughout the period of the election, which was supposed to be a free and fair one.

Xavier also pointed out the overlapping of seats between DAP and PKR as another possible reason why voters were reluctant to go out and exercise their rights.

Notably, the independent candidates were doing very well this time around, he observed.

Considering all factors, Xavier urged all those within PH to get their act together — that they must work as a real coalition to face the next general election.

“There are lessons to be learnt in this election. We will take this seriously, sit down and sort things out and we will definitely come out with a better system and a much enhanced understanding,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Xavier on behalf of PKR expressed his deepest condolences to the victims and families of the helicopter tragedy in Batang Lupar and hoped such incident would not occur anymore.