KUCHING: Young and new voters will pose many challenges to politicians looking to sway this group, says Senior Fellow of the National Professor Council, Dr Jeniri Amir.
“There may be a slight change in their attitudes towards politics due to the political turmoil following the Sheraton move that took place in February last year.
“This had left the people, especially youths, in utter disgust and probably sealed the distrust issue,” he said during an interview with Borneo Channel on YouTube.
With new and young voters aged 18 soon to be on the electoral roll, Jeniri pointed out that young voters today were no longer beholden to any entity.
Young voters, he described, were more pragmatic and not easily influenced by party ideologies.
Thus, the voting pattern would be more focused on the ideas that could bring more impact to the community, he said.
The involvement of young voters is crucial in determining the success of a political candidate, Jeniri also noted.
“This would very much depend on the political parties’ strategy to attract young voters and how the machinery at party level could convince the young voters to participate in decision making.”
