JOHOR BAHRU, July 11 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) has admitted defeat in the Johor state election after securing only eight of the 56 seats contested.
The Election Commission’s (EC) unofficial tally showed Barisan Nasional (BN) winning 48 seats, paving the way for the coalition to retain the Johor government with a commanding supermajority.
At a press conference tonight, PH Johor state election director Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari acknowledged the coalition’s disappointing performance.
“Yes, (we were) a bit shocked for certain seats we expected to win, but we will definitely go back to identify the real issues and voter trends,” he said.
Amirudin said PH had secured eight seats based on the EC results available as of 9.50pm, with DAP winning six seats and PKR and Amanah taking one each.
However, Amirudin said the coalition was still awaiting confirmation of the official results for several other seats contested by DAP and PKR.
“We are still waiting for confirmation regarding several seats involving DAP and PKR,” he told reporters at the PH Information Centre at Pulai Springs Resort here.
Amirudin was joined by Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) vice-president Mohd Hatta Ramli and the party’s communications director Khalid Abdul Samad, who is also a PH strategist.
He said PH would continue to carry out its responsibilities in the Johor state assembly with integrity by raising the people’s concerns.
Amirudin said the election result served as a reminder for PH to strengthen its strategy and engagement with voters ahead of the Negeri Sembilan state election and the next general election.
The PKR vice-president said the coalition would return to the drawing board to review its strategy and examine voting patterns across every polling stream and locality.
“It’s still premature to say that there is an fundemental problem with our strategy as we need to understand the factors behind the loss,” he said.
Amirudin said PH’s core support remained intact.
He believed the collapse in support for Perikatan Nasional, comprising Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and PAS, had resulted in votes swinging towards BN candidates.