JOHOR BARU: With just two more days to go to till nomination day, the Johor polls is expected to be a crowded affair as the Election Commission (EC) has sold over 800 nomination papers to political parties and aspiring candidates so far.
An EC official said most of the forms were snapped up by potential candidates over the last few days.
“In the 14th General Election (GE14), the number of nomination papers sold for Johor state seats was about 400 copies. But on Monday alone, we sold close to 400 nomination forms,” said the official.
“It is possible that the number of candidates vying to contest in the Johor polls will be higher.”
At least 15 political parties have expressed interest in vying for the 56 seats in the Johor state assembly.
Three major coalitions tipped to contest in most, if not all of the 56 seats up for grabs, are Barisan Nasional (Umno, MCA and MIC), Pakatan Harapan (PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara) and Perikatan Nasional (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), PAS and Gerakan).Other parties expected to make their maiden election debut in Johor include Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), Parti Warisan Sabah, Parti Bangsa Malaysia, Parti Bumiputra Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) and Parti Socialist Malaysia (PSM).
At least nine people hoping to stand as Independents have also purchased nomination forms.
In GE14, there were only five Independent candidates.
So far, Pakatan has announced almost all of its candidates except for DAP, which will be announcing candidates for the two hot seats of Skudai and Perling today.
All other parties including Barisan, Perikatan and Pejuang are expected to announce their candidates today.
The hot seats include Benut where Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad is the incumbent and expected to defend his seat, Gambir where Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin previously contested and will not be defending it this time, and Layang Layang where former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik is tipped to contest.
Other hot seats include Sedili, Johor Lama, Endau, Permas, Larkin, Puteri Wangsa, Kempas, Kota Iskandar, Bukit Batu, Senai, Yong Peng, Skudai and Perling.
Johor Umno treasurer Datuk Md Jais Sarday said that based on the present political scenario, it was impossible to expect straight fights in any of the 56 seats.
“It is likely to be a minimum three-cornered fight mainly among the three major coalitions, with a few constituencies likely to see up to eight-cornered fights,” he said.
He added that this would likely split the votes, which would hopefully favour Barisan.
He said Sedili, Johor Lama and Endau would be hot seats for Umno, which had “lost” them to Bersatu after Umno won them in GE14.
Md Jais also said all candidates and their supporters must adhere strictly to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the Johor polls announced by the government.
Meanwhile, MIC vice-president Datuk M. Asojan said that in GE14, it was mainly a three-cornered fight between Barisan, Pakatan and PAS in most seats in the state.
“Only Puteri Wangsa had a five-cornered fight with two Independent candidates in GE14.
“This is history in the making as Johor has never seen such intense jostling for seats. I hope the voters will vote for the right candidates who can form a strong and stable government,” he said, adding that the number of nomination forms sold in Johor would surely be high.
“During the Sabah state election in 2020, a total of 447 nomination forms were sold by the EC for 73 seats. It will defintely be higher for the Johor polls,” added Asojan.
Johor Amanah deputy chairman Dzulkefly Ahmad said the number of political parties and individuals contesting was good for democracy.
“Having a high number of candidates contesting gives an advantage to parties with a strong grassroots presence and many core supporters such as Umno and their Barisan Nasional component parties.
“Votes for the opposition such as Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional will definitely be split. This was evident during the Melaka state election,” he added.
Dzulkefly said that during the Melaka election, Barisan only got 38% of the popular votes while their opponents obtained 62%.
“But how could a party with that many popular votes win more than a two-thirds majority in Melaka while the opposition, which got a higher percentage of votes combined, lost?
“It’s because the votes from fence-sitters were split into two. Some went to Pakatan and others went to Perikatan,” he explained.
He said with Warisan, Pejuang, Muda and other smaller parties participating in the state election, Barisan would have an advantage.
“The only way for this to change is if the number of voters on polling day is more than 75%. Then, maybe Pakatan has a chance,” he added.
Johor PAS commissioner Abdullah Husin said it was nothing new for his party to contest in multi-cornered fights in elections.
“When I won the Puteri Wangsa seat in the 2013 general election, I was in a three-cornered fight. In the 2018 general election, I was in a five-cornered fight for the same seat,” he said.He said it was important for PAS to ensure that its machinery worked smoothly as victory for the Islamist party would also be a triumph for its Perikatan Nasional allies.
Abdullah said PAS’ experience in contesting in multi-cornered fights could benefit its Perikatan allies such as Bersatu and Gerakan.
When asked about the election SOP, he admitted that it would be a challenge for Perikatan, though it would motivate them to reach out to as many voters as possible during the 14-day campaign period.
“Other parties will also face the same challenges due to the SOP but we will redouble our efforts to woo the voters nevertheless,” he said.