COMMENT | In an earlier article, I estimated the chances of an opposition victory at no more than 10 percent as a result of the recent electoral gerrymandering and voter malapportionment exercise.

When the factors of machinery, media and money are taken into account with the combination of a BN-controlled civil service and array of anti-opposition actions and measures put in place by the Electoral Commission (EC) and other government agencies to influence the outcome of previous election battles, the forecast did not appear unduly pessimistic.

Since then as we enter into the final lap of the election battle, the odds for an upset Pakatan Harapan victory have shortened, if one goes by crowd size and response to BN and Harapan rallies seen in the social media messages inundating my email, Facebook and Whatsapp accounts.

This development may be a misleading indicator. But there is no mistaking the contrast between the enthusiastic and large audiences attending Harapan rallies, and the small and passive groups gathered at BN ones.

It could be that the purveyors of these social media snippets are Harapan supporters. However, the images are all too real. They have not been doctored and there does not appear to be any fake news intention....