The Importance of Issues for the Youth in Voter Decision Making: A Case Study among University Students in Malaysia

In the 13th Malaysia’s General Elections held in 2013,
it was observed that large numbers of urban constituencies saw
strongly decisive young voters (between 21-39 age group) determine
the outcome in their favour. Also, the Elections Commission had
approximated that 70% of some 4.2 million unregistered voters at the
time were citizens aged between 21 and 40 years old. If they are not
already considered an important form of political leverage, 450,000
young Malaysians turn 21 years old each year. Further compounding
this fact were the 2.4 million new voters registered in 2012, which at
the time constituted almost 30% of the entire voting population. This
article discusses the importance of issues for the youth, with
reference to the university students in Malaysia in their decision
making on polling day.

• Sivamurugan Pandian

• Malaysia
• Youth
• Issues
• Voting Patterns
• Elections.

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