Malaysia state polls: 5 contests to watch ahead of voting day

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 9.7 million Malaysians are set to head to the ballot boxes on Aug 12 in Selangor, Kelantan, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Penang to cast their votes for the state polls.

According to the Election Commission (EC), a total of 570 candidates have been accepted to contest the 245 state seats, which will be closely watched.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) will field 138 candidates, Barisan Nasional (BN) 108 candidates, Perikatan Nasional (PN) 168 candidates and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) 19 candidates, said EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh on Saturday (Jul 29). 

The unity government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will be defending the states of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang, while the opposition PN coalition is the incumbent in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.

According to observers, the upcoming state polls are the first major electoral test for Mr Anwar’s unity government. This is despite the fact that they have no direct impact on the federal government.

The candidates for the state polls were officially announced after nomination closed on Saturday. CNA takes a look at some of the key face-offs across the six states, ahead of voting day. 

SUNGAI TUA, SELANGOR

Malaysia’s richest state of Selangor will see caretaker chief minister Amirudin Shari defending his Sungai Tua seat in Gombak in a three-cornered fight. 

Mr Amirudin, from PH component party Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), will be facing opposition PN candidate Muhammad Hanif Jamaluddin and independent candidate G Suman. 

The Sungai Tua seat is one of 56 seats in the Selangor state assembly. The state also has the most seats up for grabs in these elections. 

A simple majority of 29 seats is needed to rule Selangor.  

Observers believe failure to defend the state, led by the PH coalition since 2008, will have serious repercussions for Mr Anwar’s administration at the federal level.

According to the Malay Mail, PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin claimed last Wednesday that his coalition can capture Selangor if 90 per cent of Malay voters cast their ballots on polling day. 

Selangor, which contributes about a quarter of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP), has the largest pool of eligible voters at more than 3.7 million.
 
PH is counting on its coalition partner UMNO to regain the support of Malays, the majority of whom voted for PN at the 15th General Election (GE15) in November last year.

HULU KELANG, SELANGOR 

Meanwhile, following a ‘momentary pause’ in politics in February, Selangor PN chairman Mohamed Azmin Ali has decided to return and contest the Hulu Kelang seat. 

According to The Star, the former senior minister first won the state seat 24 years ago under PKR in 1999. He will be up against PH’s Juwairiya Zulkifli who is the deputy chief of the PKR women’s wing.

Mr Azmin, a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) supreme council member, has been branded by many as a “traitor” due to his role as one of the leading figures of the “Sheraton Move” which triggered the collapse of the short-lived PH administration in February 2020.

Mr Azmin led several politicians to leave PH-component party PKR and later joined Bersatu under Muhyiddin, who then began his stint as prime minister from Mar 2020 until August 2021. 

Under the next administration headed by former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Mr Azmin was given the position of senior minister. The administration then had four senior ministers in lieu of a deputy prime minister. 

During GE15, Mr Azmin lost the Gombak parliamentary seat to Mr Amirudin who was his former protege. Mr Amirudin garnered 72,267 votes while Mr Azmin lagged behind at 59,538 votes.

NEGERI SEMBILAN 

The state polls will also see two ministers, namely Transport Minister Anthony Loke and Defence Minister Mohamad Hasan, contesting for a spot in the Negeri Sembilan state assembly. 

Mr Loke will be defending his Chennah seat against PN’s Rosmadi Arif. During the GE14 in 2018, he defended the seat for the second term.

According to Bernama, Mr Loke, who is also the Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general described the contest as a “friendly match between two buddies”. DAP is a PH component party. 

Meanwhile, Mr Rosmadi reportedly said that although the two are close friends, he is still optimistic about putting up a fierce fight in order to secure victory in the state polls.

Separately, Mr Mohamad Hasan, also known as Tok Mat, will be defending his Rantau seat for the fifth time in the state polls. He first served as the Rantau assemblyman in 2004 under the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of BN. The former Negeri Sembilan chief minister will be up against PN’s Rozmal Malakan.

Negeri Sembilan has traditionally been a hotbed of political activity. Recent polls in the state saw fierce contests primarily between candidates from PH and BN. 

During the GE15, the eight parliamentary seats in the state saw BN win five while PH clinched the remaining three. No other parties, including the federal opposition coalition PN, hold any federal or state seats in the state.

KEDAH

Over in Malaysia’s west coast, caretaker Kedah chief minister Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor is leading the charge as a polarising figure in the political arena.

The PN election director will be in a straight fight to defend the Jeneri seat against Sik UMNO division chief Muhamad Khizri Abu Kassim. 

According to The Star, Sanusi said on Sunday that he expects the verbal attacks against him to intensify during the campaign period for the state polls.

He added, however, that he remains unfazed, declaring that he is ready to respond to any issues.

On Jul 18, Sanusi was charged with two counts of sedition under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act for allegedly insulting Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.

In a press conference after he was charged, Sanusi said the charges against him were meant to hurt his chances at the upcoming state polls.

The recent GE15 saw PN winning 14 out of the 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah. 

TERENGGANU AND KELANTAN 

Meanwhile, a tough fight is expected for the BN-PH alliance over in the east coast states of Terengganu and Kelantan, helmed by PAS. 

Last Saturday, UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi expressed his optimism that the BN-PH alliance can capture Terengganu, which he referred to as a “swing state”. 

"Terengganu was under BN rule for a long time before it was taken over by PAS … God-willing, it will return to BN,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama. 

Before the dissolution of Terengganu’s seat assembly, PN held 22 seats while BN held 10.

For decades, the battle for Terengganu has been between PAS and the country’s grand old party UMNO.
 
But just nine months ago at GE15, PAS and Bersatu solidified their dominance by winning all parliamentary seats in the state.

Meanwhile, when asked whether BN-PH could win Kelantan over PAS, Ahmad Zahid reportedly said: "Kelantan is not a swing state; the state is obsessed with one party.

"The people of Kelantan should realise that they have been deceived for so long. Try giving your trust and vote to candidates from the (unity government parties) and see the change we can bring to Kelantan.” 

Since 1990, PAS has governed the northeastern state, where about 96 per cent of the population is Muslim.

At GE15, PN swept all 14 parliamentary seats in the state.