COMMENT | Aiyo, so confusing la, who to vote for? Yes, nomination day has thrown up so many parties and candidates. Not to worry, here is a simple guide to help you decide:

Firstly, there are only three “real choices” – Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN). The other smaller parties can be ignored.

Why is that so? Only 2 percent of voters wanted “other parties” according to a survey by the respected Merdeka Center. Those in the “others” list are GTA (Gerakan Tanah Air, led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pejuang), PBM (Parti Bangsa Malaysia) and Warisan.

Two percent means that they basically have “no hope” to win on a national level. This can be seen in PBM announcing its intention to contest only seven Parliament seats. Even then, Edmund Santhara failed to show up at the nomination centre at Segamat to defend his seat. Perhaps he knew it was a lost cause for PBM?

So why are they contesting? After all, candidates who fail to get at least 10 percent of the votes will forfeit their RM10,000 deposits. Is somebody funding these smaller parties just to be “spoilers” to “split the votes”? To allow the real players to gain an advantage?

Or maybe they hope to win three or four seats so that they can play the role of “kingmaker” (which can make exorbitant demands) when the other three main coalitions fail to gain a clear majority?

Anyway, let’s take a brief look at these three sideshows...