JOHOR BARU: Pakatan Harapan is prepared to contest all 36 seats in Negri Sembilan in a tit-for-tat move against Barisan Nasional’s decision to go solo in the Johor state election.
Pakatan deputy chairman and DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke made the suggestion in response to Johor Barisan’s announcement that it would contest all 56 seats in the upcoming state election.
“I want to propose to the Pakatan chairman (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim)… since Johor wants to contest all 56 seats, we will contest all 36 seats in Negri Sembilan.
“If Johor dissolves its state assembly, then Negri Sembilan should dissolve the next day,” Loke said during his speech at the Pakatan Convention here on Sunday (May 17).
On Saturday, Johor Mentri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi, who is also Johor Barisan chairman, said the coalition would contest all 56 seats in the upcoming state election.
His remarks indicated that Barisan may head into the polls independently, without working with Pakatan.
Speculation has been mounting that Johor could hold snap polls as early as October, following heightened political activity during Umno’s 80th-anniversary celebrations at Istana Besar on May 11.
However, no official announcement has been made.
Following the celebrations, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the Johor election would be held only after receiving His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim's blessing.
The current Johor state assembly’s term will automatically expire on April 21, 2027. In the 2022 Johor election, Barisan won 40 of the 56 seats, while Pakatan secured 12 seats, Perikatan Nasional won three, and Muda won one.
Of Barisan’s 40 seats, Umno holds 33, MCA four and MIC three.
Negri Sembilan has 36 state seats. Of that total, Pakatan won 17 seats, Barisan controlled 14 seats, while Perikatan Nasional won five seats in the 15th state election in 2023.
Pakatan and Barisan formed the government by controlling 31 state seats after the 15th state election.
