Pakatan Harapan candidate Muhammad Aiman Zainali at the Battalion 4 General Operations Force Camp in Semenyih February 26, 2019. — Picture by Hari Anggara

PETALING JAYA, Feb 26 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) is leading the Semenyih by-election in terms of popularity, according to a study by Universiti Malaya (UM), the country’s oldest public university.

The study was conducted on a select number of district polling centres over a period of several days in the Selangor state constituency, UM political analyst Awang Azman Awang Pawi told Sinar Harian today.

“PH obtained 46.67 per cent, Barisan Nasional (BN) 36.67 per cent, Parti Sosialis Malaysia 3.33 per cent and the independent candidate at 13.3 per cent,” he was quoted saying.

However, Awang also said the results may yet change in the next few days before polling on Saturday.

He said that 53.33 per cent of Semenyih voters polled agreed when asked if BN should be given a chance in the by-election, with 13.33 per cent indicating their strong approval while 33.33 per cent disagreed.

“The findings may change especially a day or two before polling day,” he told the Malay daily.

Awang noted that there were rumours circulating that the PH government may announce some affordable home project for low-income workers in the next few days.

The state by-election is being contested by Muhammad Aiman Zainali of PH, Zakaria Hanafi of BN, Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul and independent candidate Kuan Chee Heng.

The by-election was triggered by the death of Bakhtiar Mohd Nor from heart attack on January 11.