Four Selangor 'hot seats' up for grabs

SHAH ALAM - There are at least 22 'hot seats' out of 240 in the six state elections involving Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.

In the elections, several parties are expected to be a referendum towards the unity government's performance and the hot seats would determine whether the 'heavyweights' fielded fulfilled the expectations for victory or lose against the 'dragon slayer'.

Here are among the 22 hot seats that the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, Perikatan Nasional (PN) and other candidates were fighting for with Selangor as the most heated political arena that many were observing as Malaysia's wealthiest state was at risk of falling into the hands of PN if the PH-BN botched their strategy.

The 30 state seats could be considered as hot seats, but Sinar Premium listed four seats that would be focused on by the country which were Sungai Tua, Hulu Kelang, Gombak Setia and Batu Tiga.

In the Sungai Tua seat, caretaker Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari is expected to face PN-Pas candidate Muhammad Hanif Jamaluddin.

In defending the state seat, if votes were based on the 15th General Election (GE15) data in the Gombak Parliament, the PH-BN combination votes were enough to help Amirudin stay in the seat with a comfortable majority of more than 13,000 votes.

However, a boycott from BN supporters would still have the PKR deputy president win with a majority of 6,700 votes.

The main focus of this state falls on Hulu Kelang which will witness former Selangor Menteri Besar and senior (economic) minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali from PN go against Juwairiya Zulkifli from PKR.

With the two leaders switching state seats, Azmin certainly did not want the episode of his defeat to repeat when he lost to Amirudin in the Gombak Parliament in GE15.

Azmin would be pressed because the decision was truly a sign of whether the green wave phenomenon had penetrated the Selangor public.

Gombak Setia was another interesting competition with the incumbent from PN Muhammad Hilman Idham and Selangor BN chairman Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin contesting in the seat.

The GE15 decision would be a measurement as the combination of BN-PH votes would give the advantage towards Megat Zulkarnain to upset Hilman and opening the doors for the Deputy Prime Minister political secretary to be appointed as Deputy Selangor Menteri Besar if PH-BN won.

Hilman's capabilities alongside the phenomenon could have a swing of non-Malay votes to PN which could not simply be ignored.

The biggest shock was for the Batu Tiga Seat when Malaysia Bersatu Srikandi chief Datuk Seri Rina Harun who lost in GE15 in the Sepang Parliament was given room to contest in Selangor.

Batu Tiga witnessed a three corner clash between the former Development, Women, Family and Community Minister with Amanah candidate Danial Al-Rashid and Syaidiyah Izzati Nur Razak Maideen (Muda).