SEREMBAN: Negri Sembilan Barisan Nasional will propose to the supreme council that component parties swap certain seats to ensure the coalition has a better chance of victory in the state polls next month, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
“If one party has been contesting a seat several times but has not been able to win it, then we may want to consider swapping.
“A voter may not like one component party in Barisan but may be open to voting for the other,” said Mohamad, who is state Barisan chief.
Furthermore, the racial composition of voters in some constituencies may have changed over the years, he told reporters after opening the Rembau Umno division meeting here.
To another question, Mohamad said the distribution of seats for the state polls had not been finalised.
“We will be meeting soon to finalise this and should announce the names on July 15 when we launch Barisan’s election machinery.”
Nomination day for the state polls has been fixed for July 18 and voting on Aug 1.
There are 36 seats in the state assembly.
In the August 2023 polls, Pakatan Harapan won 17 seats, Barisan 14 and Perikatan five.
Back then, Barisan and Pakatan had contested the election as a team under the unity government banner.
On the candidates from Umno, Mohamad, who is the party deputy president, said each division had been asked to provide three names for each seat to be considered by the party leadership.
He also said that he is prepared to defend the Rantau seat in the Negri Sembilan polls if he gets the mandate from the Barisan leadership.
Mohamad, who is the former mentri besar, first won the seat in the 2004 polls.
He said he was prepared to go for a sixth term if he gets the green light to do so.
In the previous state election, he defeated PAS’ Rozmal Malakan with a 10,280-vote majority.
Asked if former Umno Youth chief and former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin had been shortlisted as a candidate, Mohamad said there had been no discussions yet on the matter.
Khairy, who rejoined Umno in April after his sacking in 2023, has been actively campaigning for the party in the Johor polls.
Separately, Mohamad dismissed a statement by Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Mohd Najib, the son of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, that a big Barisan victory in Johor polls on July 11 would signal public support for the former prime minister to receive a royal pardon.
“The Johor government has no power to secure Najib’s release.
“This is a process by the Pardons Board and only the King has the authority to pardon him,” he said.
