Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang says the reason Pakatan Harapan won GE14 was due to the ‘political immaturity’ of young voters. — Picture by Pheong Kar Yu

SHAH ALAM, Dec 12 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said the reason why Barisan Nasional (BN) lost the 14th general election on May 9 was partly due to what he described as the “political immaturity” of young voters.

In an interview conducted by former Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka chairman Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar for SinarTV, he said this was in addition to the perceived corruption and misbehaviour of BN leaders by voters.

“But we must be especially aware of how social media controls their minds, particularly young voters,” Hadi said.

He also factored in the overwhelming support for Pakatan Harapan (PH) by non-Muslim voters, which he claimed was over 90 per cent.

“Combine this with 30 per cent of youths aged 21 who voted for PH, and you have around 60 per cent of the total national votes.

“This however led to a PH government that is not in balance with the demographics of the country's populace,” Hadi said.

Explaining that with 66 federal seats in the hands of non-Muslim MPs compared to the 58 seats with their Muslim counterparts, he said this has invariably placed Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with an uneasy situation to handle.

Hadi also dismissed the repeated allegations that Umno had channeled money to PAS, saying it “makes no sense”.

“We beat them soundly in Kelantan and Terengganu (in the last election) Why would they have given us money only for them to meet defeat there?

“Not to mention throughout our history we have gone up against Umno head-to-head (in elections) for over 160 seats. So that claim is illogical, to say the least,” he said.