PERMATANG Pauh, set to be the battleground in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's comeback to politics after 10 years, is a predominantly Malay area with 58,459 registered voters.Anwar's strength is clearly in the Penanti and Permatang Pasir state constituencies.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat won the Penanti state seat through Muhammad Fairus Khairuddin (now deputy chief minister II) while Pas picked up the Pematang Pasir seat with a win by Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman in the March 8 general election.
The Seberang Jaya state seat was retained by the Barisan Nasional's Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah.
As for Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who received 30,338 votes, she retained the Permatang Pauh seat for a third term with a 13,388-vote majority over BN's Datuk Pirdaus Ismail who garnered 16,950 votes.
It was the second time that Dr Wan Azizah and Pirdaus had contested against each other with Dr Wan Azizah winning by a 590-vote majority in 2004.
Dr Wan Azizah won the seat on a Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan) ticket in the 1999 general election.
Since the 1969 general election, the constituency has changed hands several times.
The Barisan Nasional's predecessor, the Alliance, won the seat in the 1969 general election through Mohd Nor Bakar who defeated Pas candidate Musa Mohd Yatim.
In the 1974 general election, BN fielded Ariffin Md Daud, who beat Abu Bakar Murni of Pekemas and Baharuddin Ibrahim of the Malaysian People's Socialist Party (PSRM).
In 1978, Zabidi Ali of Pas beat Ariffin but in 1982 Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regained the seat for the BN, beating Zabidi and a DAP candidate Tan Ah Huat.
Anwar, who defended the seat in subsequent elections, was sacked from Umno in September 1998 and served as an Independent MP until his conviction for corruption on April 14, 1999.
The electorate in Permatang Pauh is mainly made up of traders, civil servants, private sector workers, especially in manufacturing, while a portion of the people are farmers and sundry shop operators.
There are several small and medium industry areas such as in Seberang Jaya, Sama Gagah and Bandar Perda.
The racial breakdown in Permatang Pauh is 69.4 per cent Malay, Chinese (24.6 per cent), Indian (5.8 per cent) and others (0.2 per cent).
Seberang Jaya is a planned township comprising mainly residential and business premises developed by Penang Development Corporation over 20 years.
Penanti and Permatang Pauh landscapes are still very much dominated by the kampung surroundings.
The Chinese control the bulk of businesses here, with most concentrated in the Seberang Jaya area.
Cherok Tok Kun, Anwar's stronghold, is pretty much preoccupied with him while his influence in Penanti is obvious.
In Permatang Pasir, Pas and PKR are equally strong.
The BN is strong in Seberang Jaya which is its bailiwick in the parliamentary constituency.
Young voters aged between 21 and 40 years constitute the bulk of the electorate at 23,502 voters (40.21 per cent). Those between 41 and 50 years are the second largest group with 14,780 voters (25.29 per cent).
The number of registered voters in the 51 to 60 year bracket make up 10,893 voters (about 18 per cent) with the rest aged 61 and above.
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