State polls: Focus to win, refrain from talking openly about seat distribution for now, says Tok Mat

SEREMBAN: Political parties in the unity government should refrain from openly talking about seat distribution in elections to be held in six states for now, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

The Barisan Nasional election director said they should instead focus on strategies to win the state polls as some in Perikatan Nasional have been making claims that the party will capture Negri Sembilan and Selangor which are currently under Pakatan Harapan.

Mohamad said it was also best if the final decision on the distribution of seats is made only after the respective state assemblies are dissolved.

"Although we have asked the parties in the unity government in the respective states to discuss this, it should only be finalised after the assemblies are dissolved.

"If we finalise this now, there will be bound to be some minor problems as some may not agree and we may end up arguing with one another.

"And when this happens, we may lose our focus (to win)," he said when met at the Hari Raya open house organised by him and his family in Rantau.

The state polls are due to be held in Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu in the middle of this year.

Elaborating, Mohamad said both Barisan and Pakatan should take the claims by some Perikatan leaders seriously that they will capture Selangor and Negri Sembilan in the state polls.

"That is a challenge and we should make sure they are wrong.

"We need to make sure that they will never win even one seat in Negri Sembilan and that we can even retain Selangor and Penang.

"So for now, let’s work hard and focus on winning," he said.

Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Penang are now controlled by Pakatan while the three other states are under Perikatan.

The Umno deputy president also said the final decision on seats will be made by the two blocs at the federal level.

"There is no such thing as Barisan or Umno discussing it with PKR or Amanah alone.

"Once the states give us their input, both Barisan and Pakatan (leaders at the national level) will sit and make a final decision when the time comes and this must be accepted by all involved," he said.

Mohamad said Barisan election machinery has also been continuously working after GE15 to prepare for the state polls.

They only took a break during Ramadan and the Hari Raya celebration.

"Although we have had party (Umno) elections since which, among others, saw 70% new faces among Umno Youth leaders, our work has continued," he said.

Mohamad said the state Barisan has also been asked to conduct a study why many of its predictions in GE15 were inaccurate.

"We need to know what happened. Why were our readings in many voting centres wrong?" he said.

Mohamad said since there was not much time left for the state polls, Barisan also needed to quickly know which seats it could retain or regain.

It also needs to find ways to minimise losses in seats it has no chance of winning.

"The focus now is that Barisan and Pakatan need to win under the unity government banner in the state polls.

"We need to know the voting pattern and trend and come up with the best solutions because we (Barisan) are already looking at the bigger picture and gearing for GE16," he said.

Earlier, thousands, including Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, thronged Mohamad's open house.

Mohamad said the extraordinary turnout was also probably because the event was not held for the past three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the villagers and relatives had helped prepare the food including rendang, gulai perut, gulai tulang and rebung, and that none was catered from outside.