No reason to worry over Muhyiddin sitting out polls, says Johor Bersatu

 

Muhyiddin Yassin has asked Bersatu leaders to provide him a list of qualified candidates who can contest in his Gambir state constituency.

PETALING JAYA: A Johor Bersatu leader has defended party president Muhyiddin Yassin’s decision not to contest in the upcoming state elections.

In a statement today, Johor Bersatu information chief Mohd Solihan Badri said Muhyiddin’s decision not to defend his Gambir seat was because he wanted to focus on strengthening the party and Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) machinery in order to defeat Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Johor polls.

“Without being tied to the seat, the former prime minister can fully focus on managing the operations of the PN machinery in Johor,” he said.

He also said that Muhyiddin’s decision to stand down would not affect Bersatu’s performance in the polls.

As for the Gambir seat, Solihan said Muhyiddin had requested the Ledang Bersatu leadership to provide him a list of qualified candidates.

He said he had identified a suitable candidate to replace Muhyiddin in Gambir, adding that the person was qualified and had the support of the grassroots.

Muhyiddin won the Gambir seat by a majority of 3,088 votes after defeating BN’s M Asojan in the last general election (GE14).

The BN-led Johor government held 28 seats while Pakatan Harapan had 27 seats prior to the dissolution of the 56-seat state assembly on Saturday. The Kempas seat was left vacant following the death of its assemblyman, former Johor menteri besar Osman Sapian, last month.

The Election Commission will meet on Feb 9 to fix the dates for nomination and polls. - FMT