GE15: Barisan can form govt on night of Nov 19 or morning of Nov 20, says Mohamad Hasan

KUALA LUMPUR: With less than six days till polling, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan is confident that Barisan Nasional will prevail in the 15th general election.

“I came down from the war room and I looked at it (data) myself. I’m confident that we can form the government on the night of Nov 19 or morning of Nov 20,” said Mohamad at a press conference at the World Trade Centre KL here on Monday (Nov 14).

However, the Barisan election director, stopped short at revealing the number of seats the coalition is able to win.

“I don’t want to tell the numbers yet. We can cross the bridge, I’m quite confident,” added Mohamad.

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Mohamad also said he gave a similar analysis during the Melaka state elections in November last year and the Johor state elections in March.

“In Melaka, 15 days before polling, I said we can win a minimum of 18 seats and we closed the numbers at 21.

“This time around, the same method and the same formula is applied, very rigid.

“We gave a lot of discount (to our figures) and we can still cross the bridge. God-willing,” said Mohamad.

Mohamad said Barisan is able to prevail in many seats because votes are split in three-cornered fights.

“When I say cross the bridge, we already crossed 50%. In three-cornered fights, we don’t need 50%, because votes are divided by three.

“So, that’s how I looked at the figure,” said Mohamad.

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Mohamad also appeared unfazed towards prospects of internal sabotage by Umno leaders who were dropped from the polls.

“There was an 'earthquake' but we managed to sort it out,” added Mohamad.

Mohamad also reiterated that Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is the prime minister candidate of Barisan Nasional should it win in GE15.

“As far as the party is concerned, Ismail Sabri is the prime minister candidate of Barisan.

Asked if there was any chance that Perlis could fall to the Opposition due to big names such as Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin who were dropped from Arau and Padang Besar respectively, Mohamad appeared confident.

“I just spoke to the caretaker Mentri Besar of Perlis and he said it’s okay, no problem. We need only eight seats in Perlis,” added Mohamad.

There are 15 state seats in Perlis, making it the smallest state assembly in Malaysia.