KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Eight states are the most vulnerable to a change of state government in the 14th general election, with Johor being the “most remarkable” of them, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today.

In his list, the DAP parliamentary named seven Barisan Nasional-led (BN) states — Johor, Pahang, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perak.

The eighth state that could see a change in government, he said, is PAS-led Kelantan.

“Of the list, the most remarkable should be Johor, which until the 11th General Election in 2004, was regarded as a totally ‘impervious’ and ‘invincible’ BN ‘fixed deposit’ state to the extent that the 2008 GE campaign theme of BN in the state was to ensure that Johor will be a ‘zero-Opposition’ state,” Lim said in a statement.

“Johor has since made a quantum leap, with the BN’s share of the total votes cast in the state slashed from 77.4 per cent in the 2004 GE to 63 per cent in 2008 and to 54 per cent in 2013 — a fall of over 23 percentage points in three general elections in nine years.”

The veteran politician said PR had made a major breakthrough in the 2013 federal polls when it won five parliamentary seats and 18 state assembly seats in Johor.

Lim was one of them, winning the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat by a 14,762 majority.

He also highlighted that BN’s popular vote in Perak was the worst among the eight states, which was at 45 per cent and even lower than the national popular vote obtained by BN at 47 per cent.

Despite that, Lim questioned whether PAS can maintain its hold on Kelantan after over two decades, claiming that it was one of the only two states where BN increased its support in the last polls.

BN increased its popular vote in Kelantan from 44 to 45 per cent, and in Kedah from 47.4 to 50.4 per cent.

In recent months, PR parties has been bickering over PAS’ hudud plans in the east coast state, a drawn-out dispute that has many pact leaders bracing themselves for a possible split.

The 14th general election must be called before 2018.