KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 ― Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has challenged Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir to contest the Pagoh and Jerlun parliamentary seats in the next elections to prove that their past electoral wins were because of their popularity as leaders.

The tourism minister claimed that they would lose if they contested in both seats in the 14th general election, as Umno's backing helped the duo secure the federal seats.

“If you want to talk about honour, if I am going to contest in the next general election, I will certainly want to contest in the seat which I have been elected in many times.

“They (Muhyiddin and Mukhriz) should contest in the seats which they won in the past, since they supposedly have grassroots support there,” Nazri told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.

Muhyiddin is the current MP for Pagoh, and has kept his seat from 1978 to 1982, and from 1995 till today.

Mukhriz won the Jerlun parliamentary seat in the 2008 general election, and served one term as MP. He is currently the state assemblyman for Ayer Hitam.

“If I wanted to prove that I won the seat not because of Umno, I would contest the same seat again.

“But in Muhyiddin and Mukhriz's case, they won because people voted for Umno and at the time, they represented the party,” he added.

Last month, Pribumi protem president and former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin said his party is looking to contest in several PAS and PKR areas and would be looking to negotiate deals with both parties.

The aim is for the new party to be a part of a coalition to remove Barisan Nasional (BN) from power and form a new government, he added.

Most of the seats contested by PKR in past elections were urban and semi-urban areas with a highly-mixed demographic, but the party also went for rural Malay-majority constituencies that PAS failed to win previously.

PAS had since left the opposition bloc after it clashed with secular DAP over its push for hudud law in Kelantan.

The division has triggered concerns that the opposition votes would be split should negotiations fail to prevent PAS from confronting Pakatan Harapan, which comprises PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara, in the upcoming general election.

But Muhyiddin has said his party would be open to negotiations with PAS.