State polls: Zahid should bear responsibility for Umno's poor performance, says PKR lawmaker

JOHOR BARU: A PKR lawmaker has called for Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to bear responsibility for the 89 seats that the party lost in the recently-concluded six state elections.

Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim said Umno, which contested under the Barisan Nasional banner, clearly lost.

Hassan said Anwar, as the Pakatan Harapan chairman and PKR president, had successfully held onto the three Pakatan stronghold states - Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Penang in the Aug 12 state polls.

“As the commander of the state elections, Anwar should now review and study the results before Pakatan and PKR take on the next general election.

“The most important thing for Anwar to do in preparation for that is to regain the Malay support that had by and large gone to Perikatan (Nasional) in the six state elections,” he said in a statement on Sunday (Aug 13).

He said that Anwar still has not managed to break through the Perikatan and PAS strongholds of Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.

He said while parties such as Umno and Muda clearly lost in the seats they contested, this did not happen to the parties from Pakatan and PKR.

“Yes, there are some seats that were lost to Perikatan but strategically, Pakatan, under Anwar’s leadership, has retained its three states.

“Continuous support should be given to Anwar,” added Hassan.