Streram said he needs 20-30% of Malay votes to win Rantau by-election

PH candidate Dr S. Streram optimistically said he would secure between 20 to 30 per cent of the Malay votes in the Rantau by-election. He hopes that his past contributions to the district will help him to secure a victory, although the Malay population in Rantau were silent about supporting him.

Streram further claims that even if he achieved his minimum number of expected votes from the Malays, he will be satisfied. As for non-Malay voters, Streram said his targeted percentage is between 70 to 80 per cent in order for PH to win.

Demographically, the ethnic groups of Rantau population are categorised as: 51.4% Malay, 30.6% Indian, and 17.7% Chinese, while 187 are others.

But out of those numbers, it was also reported that Rantau only has 20,926 registered voters. The breakdown of the voters by ethnicity are 11,615 Malay voters, 5,441 Indian voters, 3,863 Chinese voters, and 155 ‘other’ voters.

According to Steram’s minimum target, he plans to achieve 2,323 votes from the Malay voters. Also, his minimum target of 70% votes from the non-Malay translates to 6,621 votes. Thus, the sum would be at 8,944 votes out of 20,926 votes, almost half of the voters in Rantau.

Clearly, the Malay population covers more than half of Rantau. Also, there is a factor of vote splitting because of the four-cornered fight. Will Streram hit his bare minimum target and win the Rantau by-election?