COMMENTARY, Aug 6 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s campaign push in Kedah may be improving the odds for Pakatan Harapan (PH)-Barisan Nasional (BN) in the political battle against Perikatan Nasional (PN)-PAS.

Going in as the underdog in the fight to win the hearts and minds of Kedahans, Anwar propagates the politics of development in the under-developed state while PN-PAS goes hard on Malay supremacy with "commander” Datuk Seri Sanusi Mohd Nor leading the charge.

With five more days of campaigning as polling is on Saturday, the Anwar-led PH-BN seems to have succeeded in attracting the older voters while the younger ones seem to still be attracted to their hero Sanusi.

The way campaigning goes right now, young voters are aligned to Sanusi’s way of highlighting issues. They are entertained by his antics and fiery rhetoric, and not keen to hear about economic policies.

On the other hand, older voters want to hear how they can improve their livelihood i.e. how many times a year they can harvest paddy and how they can get better prices.

The going has been rough and tough for Anwar’s Unity Government but after eight days of campaigning, things have somewhat improved and the PN-PAS side are showing some concern as they can see the ground shifting bit by bit.

The atmosphere is still somewhat calm and does not look like a battleground as candidates focus on walkabouts and meeting voters personally minus the big ceramahs.

Party flags and banners from both sides of the political divide are at a minimum lining just certain roads.