MUAR: Johor Umno has dismissed suggestions that its supporters will boycott Pakatan Harapan candidates in the Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections, despite findings that this was the trend in the six state elections last month.
Instead, Johor Umno chief Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the party’s supporters and voters in Johor have promised to vote for Pakatan.
“Our election machinery has met with some of the party’s voters and supporters.
“So far, the ones we have met understand the situation and have given their word that they will vote for the candidates that Barisan Nasional supports in Pulai and Simpang Jeram,” he said.
In wide-ranging surveys among voters in those six states, the think tank Ilham Centre found that a majority of those who had supported Barisan in the 15th General Election last year had given their thumbs up to Perikatan during the state polls.
The main reason for this, according to Ilham Centre, was that many Barisan supporters and Umno members could not accept the coalition’s cooperation with Pakatan in the federal-level unity government pact.
Barisan’s supporters are critical to Pakatan’s quest to retain Simpang Jeram, as in the 2022 Johor state election, Pakatan secured 8,749 votes while Perikatan garnered 6,350. Barisan, on the other hand, received 6,062 votes.
Mohamed Khaled dismissed Perikatan’s message to Umno supporters to reject Pakatan.
“As our opponent, of course they will say such things.
“This is just their way to confuse Umno supporters and make them have less faith in the party’s decision.
“They used similar tactics in the recent state elections and were somewhat successful,” he said.
Mohamed Khaled added that another challenge was to explain to Barisan supporters who did not realise that the coalition was not contesting in Simpang Jeram.
“We accept the fact that there are Barisan and Umno voters who are looking for our logo despite us not contesting in the by-elections.
“They need to think of who to vote for as Barisan is not contesting this time around.
“As such, our election machinery needs to work hard to explain to them that we support Pakatan.
“We need to explain this reality to them and have them vote for the candidates we support instead of those from a party that is trying to replace Umno,” he said.
