Johor Umno to contest all seats it won in last GE

 

Johor Umno and BN will be contesting all 19 state seats that it won in the 2018 general election, said Mentri Besar Hasni Mohammad.

Hasni, who is also state Umno liaison committee chairperson, told Utusan Malaysia that his party is adamant that it would not use any other symbols in the upcoming 15th general election (GE15) apart from the ‘dancing’ symbol that it has used for many decades.

“We in Johor will remain steadfast in facing the upcoming GE15 under the BN symbol. In fact, the seats contested by BN before (in GE14) will continue to be contested by our representatives.

“This includes the seats that we won but where their representatives moved to another party. It is difficult for us to compromise on that," he said.

Hasni was referring to the defection of three of its elected representatives in Johor Lama (Rosleli Jahari), Sedili (Rasman Ithnain) and Endau (Alwiyah Talib), all of whom crossed over to Bersatu.

At the last GE, Umno won 17 seats and its coalition partner, MIC, picked up two. It had, however, suffered some bruising defeats, including that of then menteri besar Khaled Nordin.

Hasni said that he would not 'give face' to other parties, notably rival Bersatu, on the 19 seats that BN won.

After ruling Johor for more than 60 years prior to the historic GE14, Umno now has 14 state seats, while MIC has two. Bersatu has 12, PAS (one), and the Pakatan Harapan coalition (27).

Despite this, Johor Umno managed to wrestle back the state government leadership in the aftermath of the Sheraton Move with Hasni taking over from Bersatu's Sahruddin Jamal, who himself had replaced party colleague Osman Sapian as MB soon after GE14.

Meanwhile, Hasni said the preparations for the GE15 are being done even as the state government is focusing on addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. - Mkini