JOHOR BARU: Barisan Nasional has swept to a landslide victory in the Johor state election, with Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad expected to be sworn in for another term as early as today.
At press time, Barisan was assured of a two-thirds majority, having sealed victory in 40 seats while DAP managed to win 10, losing four of its former seats, while PKR, Amanah and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) had one each.
Perikatan Nasional won three seats, with PAS delivering one of them.
Johor has a total of 56 seats.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan announced at 10.45pm that Barisan had crossed the mark of 38 seats to ensure a two-thirds majority after winning the Tenggaroh state seat.
Hasni had earlier retained his Benut seat comfortably with a more than 5,000-vote majority.
Prior to the Jan 22 dissolution, Barisan only had 16 seats.
MCA has wrested four seats from DAP, including Yong Peng, Pekan Nanas, Paloh and Bekok.
New parties such as Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), which contested 42 seats, and Parti Warisan (Warisan), which stood in six seats, were all completely out of the contest.
Other parties which failed to get support include Parti Socialist Malaysia and Party Bumiputra Pesaka Malaysia (Putra).
All 16 Independent candidates also faded out.
Pakatan Harapan also looks to have been badly bruised in the election, losing at least 14 of the 27 seats it held before.
Perikatan Nasional is likely to be another major casualty, managing victory in only three seats despite contesting in all 56.
Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Gambir seat was also lost to Barisan.
Political observers said the low voter turnout of less than 60% had worked in Barisan’s favour.
“Johor has always had a voter turnout of more than 70%. In the 14th General Election (GE14), the turnout was almost 86%,” one observer said.
The observer said many political parties’ Johor chiefs lost, including Johor PAS commissioner Abdullah Hussin (Pulai Sebatang), Parti Bangsa Malaysia’s Steven Choong (Puteri Wangsa) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia affiliate wing (non-Malays) leader Dr Chong Fat Full (Tangkak).
Others include Muda’s Azrol Rahani (Bukit Permai), Aminolhuda Hassan from Amanah (Parit Yaani), Pejuang’s Datuk Dr Shahruddin Md Salleh (Machap) and Datuk Dr Kamarul Zaman Jidin from Putra (Semerah).
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia political analyst Dr Mohd Akbal Abdullah said the result had been expected, with the state now becoming a Barisan fortress again.
He said that while Barisan had been focusing much on stability, Perikatan and Pakatan had been too focused on politicking.
“Now with the state election over, Hasni must immediately focus on rebuilding Johor after getting a strong mandate from voters.
“He needs to have a strong state executive committee line-up to show his administration’s seriousness in developing Johor,” he said.
Mohd Akbal said the focus would now be on who Hasni picks to be part of his administrative team.
“Hasni must have a good team around him and he should choose those who have experience, loyalty and are willing to work with him to get Johor working again,” he added.
He also said the result was not very positive for the Opposition, in particular Pakatan and Perikatan.
“Voter sentiment has changed four years after GE14 and Pakatan has failed to build on its support, in particular from Chinese voters.
“Perikatan, which consists of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), PAS and Gerakan, was also not able to garner support,” he said, adding that early voting also showed that Barisan still has the support of the uniformed services.
This was the first time in Johor’s history that a total of 239 candidates from 15 political parties contested.
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