By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR (AA) – Malaysia’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) party faces a major test of its popularity Saturday with more than one million registered voters to elect a state government to rule the eastern state of Sarawak.
Party chair and Prime Minister Najib Razak has faced public and private calls for his resignation, after allegations that hundreds of millions of dollars were channeled into his bank accounts from indebted state wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Razak was cleared of the allegations in January, after explaining that the money was a donation from Middle East royals, but the explanation was met with widespread public skepticism.
BN — the sole party to have governed Malaysia since independence in 1957 — is looking for a convincing win of 60 to 70 seats for its slate of candidates, led by Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem.
A landslide victory could indicate that Razak still has the support of the people despite the long-running 1MDB scandal and other questions regarding the donations.
In the last state election held in 2011 BN swept 55 of the 71 state seats contested. The Democratic Action Party took 12 seats while the People’s Justice Party managed to win just three.
Polls opened at 9 a.m. (0100GMT) for 1,085,087 registered voters to elect state assembly representatives for 80 constituencies.
Voting is expected to end at 5 p.m. with the result anticipated before the end of the day.
In a press conference earlier Saturday, Election Commission Chief Mohd Hashim Abdullah said the body expects an 80 percent turnout among voters.
“We are predicting between 70 percent to 80 percent voter turn-out. If we can achieve the target, it is a good sign for our country in upholding democracy via the ballot box,” he said.
Barisan Nasional formed the federal government after the 2013 general election with 60 percent of parliamentary seats, but only 47.38 percent of the popular vote.
The Anwar Ibrahim-led People’s Pact won 50.87 percent of the popular vote, but failed to form the federal government as it failed to get a majority of parliamentarians.
The election was BN’s worst ever showing.
