PH-BN unshaken by Pas, PN strategy in Selangor, says state PH
MOHD FAIZUL HAIKA MAT KHAZI
SHAH ALAM - Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) remain unshaken by Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Pas' strategy to capture 33 seats from the majority of Malay voters and take control of the Selangor state government in the upcoming state election.
Selangor PH secretary Mohd Khairuddin Othman said he is fully confident that the cooperation between PH-BN machinery would enable the ruling coalition to defend the status quo of the current state government.
Khairuddin added that PH-BN election machinery is fully prepared to face intense competition and campaign strategies that PN plans to employ in the upcoming Selangor election.
In fact, the Paya Jaras assemblyman believes that voters in Selangor are wise enough to judge and are not be easily influenced by the sentiment of 3R (racism, religion and royal institutions) campaign that PN may raise at the polls later.
"The people of Selangor are more affected by economic, development and job opportunity issues that have been handled well by the state government led by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari," he told Sinar.
On Saturday, Selangor Pas secretary Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir said PN is confident of winning 33 of the 56 state seats, all of which are areas with a majority of Malay voters exceeding 60 percent.
For the record, any party contesting in Selangor election needs at least 29 state seats to get a simple majority to form a new state government.
Currently, Selangor PH has 40 state seats followed by BN (five seats), PN (four seats), Pejuang (two seats), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (two seats), Warisan (one seat) and Batang Kali state assembly whose seat was vacated due to the passing of incumbent.
However, based on the 15th general election (GE15) data by the Election Commission, there are 34 state constituencies that have a majority of over 60 per cent Malay voters and will be up for grab by PH-BN and PN coalition in Selangor election.
Out of the total of 10 state seats, nine have a voter composition from Malay voters exceeding 70 percent, indicating a significant majority of Malay voters in those constituencies.
For the remaining 15 seats, Selangor state assembly recorded a majority of Malay voters of over 60 per cent.
Meanwhile, Khairuddin said that seat allocation negotiation between PH and BN has now been completed even though the list of candidates will only be announced a few days before the nomination.
However, he said the actual number of seats to be contested by PH and BN will only be announced by Amirudin who is also Selangor PH chairman after the state assembly has been dissolved this month.
Apart from that, he is also confident that some former influential leaders from BN such as Tan Sri Noh Omar's entry into PN will not affect PH's chance of resuming power in Selangor.
