Johor polls: Perikatan to contest using coalition’s logo, says Muhyiddin

PETALING JAYA: Perikatan Nasional parties will be contesting the Johor election using the coalition’s logo, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

This was one of the resolutions agreed at the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and PAS two-day "muzakarah" (discussion) session, which ended on Saturday (Jan 29).

Muhyiddin, who is Perikatan chairman, said the coalition would be deciding on seat allocation and whether it would contest all 56 seats in Johor in the "next few days".

The Bersatu president added that the coalition had also not decided on its Mentri Besar candidate.

"We have not even come up with our list of candidates yet," said Muhyiddin at a press conference.

Also present at the press conference were PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang and other top leaders of Bersatu and PAS.

Barisan Nasional, who were partners in the Federal Government with Perikatan, were likely to go solo in Johor - similar to the Melaka election in November last year.

In the Melaka election, Barisan won 21 out of the 28 seats to win the polls.

Perikatan won only two seats out of 28.

Muhyiddin said Perikatan would take heed of its performance in Melaka and would strategise accordingly in Johor.

"We take note of what has happened in Melaka. Johor is a different state. It is bigger, there are more seats and voters there. The constituencies are larger.

"We will put a proper strategy to determine the winning factor in Johor.

Muhyiddin said Perikatan would be fielding a mixture of young as well as experienced candidates, taking also into account the introduction of 18 to 20-year-old voters in Johor following the implementation of Undi18 this year.

"Perikatan also has a lot of prominent figureheads in Johor that can be fielded as our candidates," said Muhyiddin.

The Johor state assembly was dissolved on Jan 22, paving the way for state election to be held within 60 days.

Prior to the dissolution of the state assembly on Saturday (Jan 22) evening, the state government led by Barisan had a simple majority of 28 (Barisan 16, Bersatu 11, PAS’ one) compared to Pakatan’s 27 following the death of Bersatu's Kempas assemblyman Datuk Osman Sapian last month.

The Election Commission (EC) will meet this coming Feb 9 to determine and fix the polling date.