Johor polls: Five parties lose all their deposits

 

JOHOR POLLS | There is no greater shame for a politician than to lose their deposit during an election. However, some parties during the 15th Johor legislative assembly election were full of them.

Pejuang - a party headed by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and currently has four MPs - fielded 42 candidates and all lost their deposits.

This amounts to RM210,000 donated to the Election Commission.

Even Pejuang's most decorated candidate Shahruddin Md Salleh - a former deputy minister, multi-term lawmaker and currently an MP - could only muster 2.39 percent of the vote for Machap.

Their best performing candidate was Zam Zam Hashim, who won 4.81 percent of the vote share in Kukup.

Two other parties with MPs but did not keep any deposit in Johor were Warisan and Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM). Warisan fielded six candidates and PBM four.

Warisan is currently testing the water in Peninsular Malaysia as it seeks to expand beyond Sabah. As for PBM, the Johor polls will make it harder for them to seek entry into BN.

Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) both fielded one candidate each. Both did not keep their deposit.

Putra's candidate could not even win one percent of the vote share. PSM's candidate did a bit better, winning 1.76 percent of the vote share.

Pakatan Harapan, despite winning enough seats to form the government in 2018, saw 11 candidates losing their deposits this time round.

PKR had seven such losses and Amanah four. DAP and Harapan ally Muda, who made their electoral debut, had a clean sheet.

Over at Perikatan Nasional, two Bersatu candidates did not keep their deposit.

PAS and Gerakan saw one candidate each losing their deposit.

None of the BN candidates came close to losing their deposits. Their worst performance was in Bentayan, where they won 20.6 percent of the vote share. - Mkini