Harapan to rope in all opposition parties for Johor polls - Anwar

 

Pakatan Harapan will rope in all the opposition parties, including Pejuang, Warisan and Muda, to contest in all 56 state seats in the upcoming Johor state election.

When met at the PKR headquarters today, Harapan chairperson Anwar Ibrahim said this is to ensure Umno and BN will be defeated in the polls, starting from Johor polls.

"A preliminary agreement has been made where we will open the space to rope in all opposition forces and civil society to make sure there is a change. It is not going to help if there is a hairline crack (in the opposition)."

"We have to have one voice, one action and one strategy to ensure Umno/BN is defeated, starting in Johor. 

"Our strategy is to embrace all opposition parties even though we may have many differences but at least we shared the same opinion in wanting to bring change and reject corruption," he said after chairing a two-hour presidential council meeting.

Following this, he said Johor Pakatan Harapan would begin its seat negotiations on the ground.

It is up to the state coalition parties to decide on the seat allocation for the Senggarang, Mahkota and Serom seats, where Amanah lawmakers who won these seats had later defected to PKR, according to Anwar.

'Opposition fragmented'

In February 2021, Khairuddin A Rahim (Senggarang), Muhamad Said Jonit (Mahkota) and Faizul Amri Adnan (Serom) defected to PKR.

Two Selangor assemblypersons from Amanah - Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar (Meru) and Ahmad Mustain Othman (Sabak) - also defected to PKR in November 2020.

The exodus of Amanah lawmakers to PKR led to tension between both parties.

On Jan 22, Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar consented to incumbent Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad's request to dissolve the state assembly, paving the way for fresh polls which must be called within 60 days.

The Election Commission (EC) will announce the election date in the near future.

Hasni, who is from Umno, had called for the polls even though the BN-Perikatan Nasional (PN) state government he led did not face any threat to its hold on power.

The move is seen as an attempt to capitalise on the opposition's weakened position and also to oust PN from the coalition so BN can govern Johor alone.

On the government's side, the two major coalitions that will face off in the Johor polls are BN and PN, while the opposition is fragmented.

The main opposition force is expected to be Harapan, but Pejuang has indicated that it also plans to contest in the election.

This will also be the first election under the new voting age of 18, down from 21, and also the implementation of automatic voter registration.

It was reported that Pejuang intended to contest 42 in the upcoming Johor state election.

Earlier today, Umno announced that it would contest 42 state seats, up from 35 in 2018. BN component parties took the remaining 21: MCA (15), MIC (4), and Gerakan (2).

Hasni leads the state government with 28 seats, while Harapan only controls 27 seats. Hasni's Barisan Nasional holds 16 seats, Bersatu has 11 seats and PAS, just one.

The Harapan coalition controls 27 seats in the Johor state assembly, with component parties DAP holding the most at 14, followed by PKR at seven and Amanah, six. - Mkini