Pakatan Rakyat's effectiveness in winning votes?

As of late, there are widespread reportings on the tenth Sarawak state election which will be held on April 16, 2011 after the nomination for candidates on April 6. The ninth state assembly was dissolved byYang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak, Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng on advice of the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud on March 21, 2011. The purpose of this election is to elect 71 representatives to the Sarawak State Assembly (Dewan Undangan Negeri in Malay).

There are a total of 213 candidates electing for 71 seats. Both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had proposed candidates for all 71 seats. There are also two new parties contesting in this election. They are the Parti Cinta Malaysia and Parti Ekonomi Rakyat Sarawak Bersatu (PERSB) (English: United Sarawak People's Economic Party) in which are not affiliated to Pakatan Rakyat or BN. They are contesting in 6 and 16 seats respectively. However, it was reported that PERSB were forced to contest as independent candidates as the application for their party has not been approved by the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

Flags put up by parties to attract votes 

for the coming Sarawak State election.

In this election, the Pakatan Rakyat team are split into four groups which are the Democratic Action Party(DAP), Sarawak National Party (SNAP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS). In my personal opinion, if these four groups were to merge as one and to elect as the oneand only Pakatan Rakyat team, they stand a higher chance to win.


At present, the votes will be divided into the four groups of the Pakatan Rakyat. Since the votes are split into four, the chances of winning as majority are less. If they were to merge as one, voters will be able to vote for either BN or Pakatan Rakyat.

The centralised votes will help PR to effectively win over BN in a fair and square manner. At the same time, suppoters of PR will not have a hard time deciding which among the four teams they would like to vote.
The merging of PR teams will also bring benefits to the coalition party as working as a team will gain them more power and teamwork. It will also show the nation the ability of the four teams to work together as one harmoniously towards working in the service of the people of Malaysia.

Although it is one of the best ways to win in majority in the coming election, I do not see how this will be possible in the near future. The final winner will be revealed in just a few more days and I hope it will give the people in Sarawak a better future.