BN completed seat negotiations for Johor polls, says Tok Mat

Umno, MCA and MIC have completed seat negotiations for the upcoming Johor state elections and is now simply waiting to convene and subsequently endorsed at the Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting.

BN Johor state election director Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said all state divisions have been asked to provide two shortlisted names for each 56 state seat.

Talking to senior and top personalities from the press at Concorde Hotel here last Tuesday, Mohamad, who is also Umno’s deputy president said his priority now is to ensure BN’s election machinery remains at the ready.

“I do not want to see each state division’s machinery become complacent simply because BN has won in a landslide in Melaka. This is what I am worried about.

“There is a need for me to stress that the situation in Melaka and Johor are completely different.

“Johor truly represents the Malaysian society in the truest sense of the word,'' he said.

Speaking on election candidates, Mohamad said the priority now is to avoid fielding problematic individuals.

Mohamad also said that BN will field new young candidates, stemming from their women, youth and Puteri wings.

This is crucial as there will be 750,000 new voters under the age of 40 in addition to the existing 1.8 million voters who voted in the 14th General Election, with some 2.5 million total voters in Johor, said Mohamad.

Mohamad also pointed out that all political parties and not just BN are facing similar challenges brought about by Undi18.

“We do not know in which direction that they are inclined and how they will make their choice. This is something new to all political parties,’’ he said.

Mohamad also stated that BN machinery has been segmented into five zones of operation mainly, North, East, West, South and Central.

“In the northern zone, for example, there are 16 state seats. From this number, BN had only won two in GE14.

“One of BN’s missions is to retake all the state seats that we lost in this zone from the previous election.

“My target is to retake all 12 seats in this zone. In fact, BN had lost with razor-thin margins in most of these seats,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, out of the 56 state seats, Umno is expected to field 42 candidates while the remaining 14 seats are divided between MCA and MIC.