KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) president, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir has blamed his party’s logo as the reason for its disastrous performance in the Johor state polls, with all of its candidates losing their deposits.
News portal Malaysiakini reported him saying that this was owing to voters’ purported unfamiliarity with the logo.
Mukhriz also blamed the low voter turnout as another reason, admitting however that his party too had its weaknesses which its members will work to address.
Pejuang had contested in 42 out of the 56 state seats. The party lost its deposits in all the seats.
“We are a party that has been registered for less than seven months, our logo is not recognisable to many,” he reportedly said at a press conference last night.
Mukhriz also defended the party’s decision to not ally itself with any other parties for the Johor state election.
“Solo was not a mistake,” he said, adding that Pejuang will continue to serve as a check and balance.
BN secured Johor with a super-majority, making a stunning comeback after being punished by voters in GE14.
Barisan Nasional (BN), led by lynchpin Umno, won 40 seats in the 56-seat state assembly after just over half of Johor’s eligible voters cast their ballots.
This gave the coalition a two-thirds majority in the state legislative assembly.
