Pakatan targeting Johor in GE14 but not through ‘illegal means’, DAP tells Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11— A shift of voter sentiment could see Pakatan Harapan win Johor in the 14th general election but the coalition will “fight fair” and not resort to illegal tactics such as moving voters into the state to secure a victory, DAP has said.

DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong refuted allegations made by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that Pakatan Harapan was targeting to win state power in Johor by moving voters into the state before GE14.

“Pakatan Harapan is definitely seeing Johor as one of the most important battlegrounds in the upcoming general election and hopefully a groundswell will see the change of government at Nusajaya, as well as Putrajaya.

“The Opposition will do our best to win by fighting fair. We will not engage in illegal means of moving voters, which is a standard operating procedure in Barisan Nasional’s playbook,” Liew said in a blog posting yesterday.

He pointed out that Johor, along with Kedah and Sabah are frontline states which could contribute ten parliamentary seats each to the Opposition’s tally.

The Johor DAP chairman said that the parliamentary seats of Labis, Segamat, Ledang, Sekijang, Muar in northern Johor, and Pasir Gudang, Pulai, Tebrau, Johor Baru in Southern Johor are marginal seats that could fall easily with a small vote swing.

Liew also expressed confidence that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) would be able to retain the Pagoh parliamentary seat, and that when the support among Malay voters for Pakatan Harapan is sufficiently strong, Simpang Renggam, Tanjong Piai and Ayer Hitam will be the next to fall to the opposition coalition.

“For State seats, the Opposition had won 18 state seats out of 56 in the 13th General Election. The seat of Jorak is now considered an Opposition seat after the formation of Parti Bersatu.

“To form the State Government, 29 seats are required. It is just ten seats away, assuming we are returned in all the existing seats,” he said.

Last year, Liew said that BN could lose power in Johor in the next federal polls with a mere 10 per cent vote swing, and that a shift in voter sentiment could see the ruling pact cede up to 14 state seats and 11 parliamentary seats to the Opposition.

For Johor, BN won 21 federal seats in the last general election while PKR and DAP won five.

The Opposition won 18 out of 56 state seats in Johor in the 13th general election, leaving BN with 38 seats, exactly two-thirds of the state legislative assembly. The collaboration between DAP, PAS and PKR as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in Election 2013 then had allowed the Opposition to triple its seat tally from just six seats won in the 2008 general election.