Dissolve Parliament, BN supporters call with victory inches away

Calls for the dissolution of Parliament echoed through the Barisan Nasional operations room tonight where a crowd is awaiting the Election Commission’s announcement of the official results for the Johor state election.

The shouts, which continued for long minutes, were repeated each time an unofficial result was announced.

They are seen as part of the pressure on the federal government to hold the 15th general election as soon as possible.

Unofficial results so far put Barisan Nasional (BN) in the lead, far ahead of its closest competitors, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional.

Voting began at 8am and ended at 6pm. As of 4pm, only 50% of voters had gone to cast their ballots.

A total of 2.5 million regular voters had been eligible to cast their ballots, including for the first time youth aged 18 and above.

MalaysiaNow reported in January that the Umno faction led by party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was planning at least three more state elections in the hope of returning Umno to stronger footing in legislative assemblies, before ending things with a “grand finale” in the form of a general election in July.

A source close to Zahid’s faction said the plan would see elections being held in Perlis, Kedah and Perak.

“After Johor, there are intense efforts to effect a statewide election in Perak,” the Umno leader who wished to remain unnamed told MalaysiaNow.

The source also said the main objective of the plan was not only to show that “Umno is back”, but also to set the tone for “full-fledged” federal power.

“When it controls many states, it will be easier for Umno to return to power at the federal level and restore its control of Putrajaya without having to share power with people who put us in the dock,” said a Pahang Umno insider, in an apparent reference to the role played by Bersatu in bringing down the Umno-led government in 2018.