‘16 Kedah State Assembly seats in PH’s hands’ - Mahfuz
SHAH ALAM - The 15th General Election (GE15) data for the state of Kedah cannot be used as an indicator in the state election on August 12 because the voting trend of young people can change.
Kedah Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar said that Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s confidence that PH could only win three of the 36 seats in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) was unfounded.
"Sanusi wants to daydream, go ahead. I am speaking based on reality and not using bombastic words like him. I never claimed that PH could win up to 27 seats.
"My confidence is based on numerical simulations and the data from the last election results. Therefore, I dare say 16 seats are in PH’s hands," he told Sinar Premium.
Mahfuz was confident that the PH-BN coalition would be able to recapture Kedah with 16 DUN seats in their grasp because he claimed the community’s acceptance of the Unity Government was high, including among the youth.
"The young voters who voted for the first time in the 15th general election are not ‘hardcore’ voters loyal to only one party.
"It can change based on the facts when they see what Pas and Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) have revealed are just lies. In the end, there is no solution to the problems of the future in Kedah," he said.
Previously, Sanusi, who is also Perikatan Nasional (PN) elections director, revealed he was confident of winning 33 out of 36 seats in Kedah because the spirit of the GE15 wave was still high.
He said with increased efforts, it was not impossible for PN to get 36-0 state assembly seats in Kedah, but it aimed for 33-3, with three seats expected to be won by PH due to the migration of Malay voters, including in Kota Darul Aman and Bakar Arang.
Sanusi also predicted that PN would remain the state government and dominate state assembly seats in Kelantan, Terengganu, and Kedah, besides having a 50-50 chance to seize Negeri Sembilan and Selangor in the next PRN.
The key to victory
Commenting on the state assembly seats that are targeted by the coalition of component parties in the Unity Government in the upcoming state polls, Mahfuz, who is also a former Pokok Sena MP, said they were trying to identify three more seats that could be the key to victory to get an easy majority to form the government state.
"Kota Darul Aman and Bakar Arang were definitely seats that we could win based on the results of the last GE14.
"Our work now is to identify three more seats that can be added (a total of 19 seats) to make us a government. If we manage to capture more than three seats, that counts as a bonus," he said.
Mahfuz, however, refused to reveal the location of the 16 seats they believed PH and Barisan Nasional (BN) could win but hinted that they represented urban areas and suburbs, including rural areas.
"Right now, we are very positive about rural areas. Although GE15 saw PN control 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah, we cannot measure the current state polls only based on the general results of the last election.
"That is only a temporary wave as a result of the public being deceived by the political spectre created. Before that, PN did not have the strength, as rural areas used to be dominated by Umno-BN," he said.
Strategy
Speaking about the strategy of the coalition of parties under the Unity Government to recapture the state, Mahfuz said their main tactic was to approach the people.
"We need to give a touch to the community by inviting them to see the future importance of the state of Kedah that needs to be developed to ensure the survival of the next generation, especially matters related to the issue of employment opportunities.
"I see that they are also aware of the weakness of the leadership of the state government under Sanusi, which is very weak.
"Therefore, they feel that there is a need for a change in leaders who are more objective than those who only boast," he said.
