Pakatan Harapan (PH) Johor has declared that it will contest all 56 state seats in the upcoming Johor election, following Barisan Nasional’s (BN) earlier announcement that it plans to field candidates in every constituency.
Johor PH chairman Aminolhuda Hassan said the decision was made in response to BN’s move, which was confirmed by Johor BN chairman and Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.
“Therefore, Pakatan Harapan Johor is also offering itself to contest all 56 seats in Johor. When the Menteri Besar has stated that he will contest 56 seats, we too will contest 56 seats,” he said during the PH convention in Johor Bahru.
He said BN’s announcement effectively signalled that the possibility of electoral cooperation between the two coalitions in the state had been shut down.
“They have opened the way and made a firm decision, so we will not back down,” he added.
Separately, Aminolhuda said BN’s stance clearly indicated that it was no longer interested in continuing cooperation with PH at the state level.
He said the move by BN/Umno leadership showed that the party had effectively closed the door on collaboration ahead of the polls.
He also noted that even before the convention, questions had already been raised within PH regarding the future of BN-PH cooperation in Johor.
When asked whether PH still left room for cooperation, Aminolhuda said the coalition was not keen to appear overly eager.
“We do not want to appear desperate. Since they have acted that way, so be it,” he said.
Despite the political split at state level, he stressed that relations between PH and BN at the federal level remain intact.
“At the federal level, as mentioned by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Maslan, there is no need to worry because we are still together,” he added.
The Johor state assembly is expected to be automatically dissolved in April next year if polls are not called earlier, with elections required to be held within 60 days thereafter.
