KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) will contest the largest share of seats in the Johor state election, representing the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.
According to Sinar Harian, PN election director Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the decision was reached at a seat allocation meeting involving all of the coalition’s component parties.
However, Sanusi did not disclose the total number of seats that PN would be contesting.
“Bersatu will contest the most seats. The list submitted is based on each party’s level of confidence. We will look at it and weigh the factors.
“These factors include the strength of the party machinery, voter base, (prospective candidates’) experience, incumbency and past electoral contests,” he said after the PN seat allocation meeting at the PAS headquarters here on Wednesday (June 24).
On Tuesday (June 23), PN information chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa was reported as saying that PN had yet to finalise its seat distribution for the Johor polls as there were still overlapping claims among its component parties.
He said the negotiations held that day had succeeded in resolving most of the allocations, but several overlapping seats still required further discussion.
Elaborating further, Sanusi, who is also PAS vice-president, said all candidates from the component parties would contest under the PN logo.
He added that the meeting had resolved 34 overlapping seats among PN components, while the remaining seats were open to each party.
“My task is to negotiate the overlapping seats. Those that don’t overlap are ‘free for all’. All the overlapping ones have been settled,” he said.
He added that Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) would contest one seat in Bukit Gambir, while Parti Wawasan Negara (Wawasan) had not submitted any application to contest in Johor.
Separately, Muhammad Sanusi, who is also PAS election director, said the party would announce its candidates on Thursday (June 25).
