In GE15 negotiation strategy, Bersatu won't cede seats it currently holds

A Johor Bersatu leader said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin recently met with them where he outlined the party's game plan in negotiating constituencies in the state to contest in the 15th general election.

"In areas held by a Bersatu elected representative, it will continue to be represented by Bersatu.

"For areas represented by Pakatan Harapan, such as Bakri which is represented by (DAP's) Yeo Bee Yin - that can be discussed.

"Whether Bersatu, Umno, MCA, MIC, or PAS (gets the seat), it can be discussed," said the Bersatu leader who did not want to be named.

The Bersatu leader who is part of the Johor leadership said Bersatu will also lay claim to seats currently held by Bersatu rebels who have been removed from the party.

This includes former Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's Muar constituency.

The Bersatu leader stressed that they will do their best to avoid contesting against its own Perikatan Nasional partners.

"That is why we are discussing. There will be discussions until the last minute," he said.

This comes amid friction between Umno and Bersatu after the former demanded the Mersing seat back in the next general election.

This was after Mersing MP Abdul Latiff Ahmad (below), who defected from Umno to Bersatu, slighted his former Umno colleagues by claiming Umno was no longer popular in Sabah. He later apologised for the comment.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said his party does not care for the apology and wants Abdul Latiff's seat back in the next general election.

However, the Johor Bersatu leader believes his party can increase its number of seats.

"In the next general election, we will field candidates who are more prominent, talented and qualified.

"We have many division chiefs who are engineers, professionals. We are confident of getting more seats," he said.

The Pakatan Harapan government collapsed in late February after Muhyiddin pulled Bersatu out and formed a new coalition with PKR defectors, BN, PAS, GPS, PBS and STAR.

Muhyiddin was sworn in as the new prime minister after his mentor-turned-rival Dr Mahathir Mohamad refused to lead the new coalition as he adamantly refused to work with Umno.

Mahathir had warned that Bersatu's involvement with Umno will spell disaster.

Muhyiddin had been working to formalise PN so that component parties can contest under a common platform in the next general election.

However, some within Umno believes that the Umno and PAS alliance is strong enough to win in the next general election without having to make any concessions to Bersatu.

All three parties rely on a Malay base and have extensive overlapping claims over electoral constituencies that they want to contest in the general election.

In the last general election, Bersatu contested and won the parliamentary seats of Pagoh (Muhyiddin), Muar (Syed Saddiq), Sri Gading (Shahruddin Md Salleh), Simpang Renggam (Maszlee Malik) and Tanjung Piai (Md Farid Md Rafik) in Johor.

However, Muhyiddin's Bersatu only controls Pagoh now. Syed Saddiq, Shahruddin and Maszlee have rebelled against Muhyiddin's leadership while Tanjung Piai was lost to MCA in a by-election after Md Farid passed away.

Apart from Mersing, other Johor parliamentary constituency Bersatu got from defections are Mohd Rashid Hasnon's Batu Pahat and Edmund Santhara's Segamat.

The duo had defected from PKR. While they have yet to officially join Bersatu, they are appearing in the Dewan Rakyat as MPs under Bersatu.

Meanwhile, Muafakat Nasional, the Umno-PAS alliance, too intends to stake its claim on all seats that it had won in the last general election, according to sources from the alliance.

Umno and PAS are also working on a joint strategy to safeguard their interest if PN is formally registered.

"Seat distribution is the main issue that needs finetuning as Muafakat Nasional is now part of PN, particularly the seats that Umno won in the 14th general election but was taken away by former MPs (who defected)," said the Muafakat Nasional source.

Likewise, seats that Umno and PAS lost in the last general election will be opened to discussions. - Mkini