JOHOR BARU: At least three state seats, including two strongholds, will be swapped among Barisan Nasional component parties in the upcoming state polls.
Talk is rife that Tenggaroh, which has been with MIC for more than 30 years, will be given to Umno.
According to a senior Barisan leader, MIC will in turn be given Perling, which belongs to MCA.
“Umno is expected to give up its stronghold of Layang Layang to MCA as part of the exchange,” the leader said.
Layang Layang used to be the old Simpang Renggam state constituency before a redelineation exercise in 2003 split it into Machap and Layang Layang seats.
Simpang Renggam has traditionally been a MCA stronghold until Umno started contesting the Layang Layang seat since 2004.
The leader said with seat negotiations almost finalised, the coalition is now fine tuning its candidates list before making an announcement tomorrow.
The leader said Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is expected to give out the letter of appointment to the 56 candidates at the Johor Umno office.
“So far, there are no changes to the list. But candidate selection is still underway, and hopefully all issues can be resolved by Wednesday (tomorrow),” the source told The Star here.
Asked about the 56 seats, the leader said that the status-quo remains in Johor, with Umno contesting 37 seats, MCA, 15, and MIC, four.
The Johor constitution allows for the appointment of up to five non-elected assemblymen on top of the 56, bringing the total to 61.
The Barisan leader added that MIC has never lost in Tenggaroh, which is a Malay majority seat with 82.6%, followed by 13.1% Chinese and 1.5% Indians.
“Tenggaroh, which has about 49,500 voters, was even contested and won by MIC for nine terms.”
The source said Layang Layang, which has 29,479 voters, was a mixed seat with 55% Malays, 30% Chinese and 13% Indians.
“The Perling seat is a DAP stronghold, which they have managed to hold on to since its name change from Pengkalan Rinting in 2018,” the leader said.
A non-Malay dominated seat, Perling has more than 189,000 voters with 37.6% of them Malays, 44.9% Chinese, 12.9% Indians, and others at 4.6%.
In the 2022 state election, Barisan formed the state government after winning 40 seats, while Pakatan Harapan secured 12 (DAP 10, PKR one, Amanah one), Perikatan Nasional managed three, with two from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and one from PAS, while Muda took the Puteri Wangsa seat.
Nearly 2.73 million voters have been recorded this time around, an increase of 110,751 voters from 2022.
