PH, PN or solo, Wan Rosdy believes BN can win in Pahang

 Joining forces with PN will lead to a comfortable win, but an alliance with PH would result in a loss of 15% of the Malay votes, says the Umno vice-president.

Umno vice-president Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail also vowed to retain Pahang as a stronghold of the party and Barisan Nasional.

KUALA LUMPUR:

Umno believes it can retain Pahang at the next state election regardless of whether Barisan Nasional teams up with Pakatan Harapan or Perikatan Nasional or goes solo to contest the election.

Umno vice-president and Pahang Umno chief Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, citing three studies that were carried out, said BN could win comfortably if it formed a pact with PN.

However, “if we join forces with PH, we could lose 15% of the Malay votes,” he said.

“Even if we go solo, we could still win, but it would be very risky,” said Wan Rosdy in his winding-up speech at the Umno general assembly here.

However, Wan Rosdy said Umno’s central leadership would have the final say on any form of cooperation with other coalitions.

“Still being discussed”

Wan Rosdy, who is also Pahang menteri besar, vowed to retain Pahang as a stronghold of Umno and BN, as it remains the only state with continuous Umno rule.

“Pahang is the only state where Umno’s DNA in governing the state has never been broken. In other states, that continuity has been broken at some point, but not in Pahang,” the menteri besar said.

In the 2022 general election, BN and PN each won 17 state seats while PH secured eight. BN subsequently partnered with PH to form the Pahang government, and Wan Rosdy became menteri besar for a second term.

Wan Rosdy has previously said Pahang BN wanted the current BN-PH state government to continue until the next general election. - FMT