PONTIAN: Competition in the 15th Johor state election will be a historical moment for the state, says Johor Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad (pic).

       He said he had been informed that the majority of the 56 state seat would see multi-cornered fights.

       “Today, I am personally in a multi-cornered contest with four candidates competing for the Benut seat.

       “Similar scenarios are also occurring at other seats where BN is facing four to six-cornered fights.

       "This is the time that we can truly see the country's democracy working with all candidates being on good terms with one another,” he said after nominations closed at 10am on Saturday (Feb 26).

       He was speaking to the meadia after filing his nomination papers at the Dewan Serbaguna Benut nomination centre.

       Hasni, who is also the Johor caretaker mentri besar, said he will be up against Senator Datuk Isa Ab. Hamid of Perikatan Nasional (PN), Haniff@Ghazali Hosman of Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Iskandar Noor Ibrahim of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang).

       “I believe that each candidate wants healthy competition, and I also believe that the SOP for the state election is fair and will give a chance to all candidates to campaign and meet the voters,” he added.

       Meanwhile, Isa said that the multi-cornered fight would be a good opportunity to finally penetrate Benut, which is one of Umno’s strongholds.

       “We need proper planning so that we can move our election machinery in accordance with the new SOP announced by the Election Commission (EC).

       “I am a Benut local and had previously worked here as a secondary school teacher. So I have the experience of knowing what the general public here wants,” he said, adding that his main agenda will be about upgrading agricultural activities.

       As for Pakatan candidate Haniff, he said that he felt no pressure going against "heavyweight" candidates like Hasni as he had contested a parliamentary seat before.

       “I contested against Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan in the 13th General Election. But the size of the competition is much smaller this time, and we have more sophisticated election machinery compared to 10 years ago.

       “Personally, I have always been prepared, and the majority of the voters here are within my age range, so it is easier to get to know what they want and we hope that all candidates can compete in healthy competition,” he said.