BN to contest over 20% of seats in Selangor

The distribution of seats between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) for the upcoming state elections has been completed with BN allocated more than 20% of the 56 seats contested, says Selangor PH chairman Amirudin Shari.

Amirudin, who is also Selangor menteri besar, said the seat distribution was agreed on by PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"The remaining seats will be contested by PH candidates and this will be decided after taking into account the seats held by the party before the dissolution of the state assembly.

"The current political situation, the latest strength between parties in the unity government coalition, as well as the accessibility to combine the strengths of both parties are among the factors in determining the seat distribution," he said in an interview with Bernama.

Taking into account all of these factors, Amirudin added, the distribution was well received by both parties.
 
BN was previously reported as aiming to contest at least 14 seats in the polls, taking into account the position of PH which won 16 of the 22 parliamentary seats in Selangor in the 15th general election (GE15) in November last year.

At GE14 in 2018, BN won four state seats – Sungai Air Tawar, Sungai Burong, Sungai Panjang and Hulu Bernam – before wresting the Semenyih seat from PH in a 2019 by-election.

On the candidates to be fielded by PH, Amirudin said the list was still being studied and would need more discussion at the state level before the names are finalised.

He said in addition to retaining the incumbents, PH would introduce several new faces including representatives of women, youth, politicians and professionals.

"As I have mentioned before, we will try to balance between the candidates who have long contributed to the constituency or locality they represent and, at the same time, introduce new faces for the continuity of the PH administration in Selangor," he said. 

Selangor, which has a total of 3,747,057 voters, will hold polls alongside five other states – Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang and Negeri Sembilan – on Aug 12.

At GE14, Selangor PH secured 51 seats, followed by BN and PAS with four and one respectively.

The composition of the state assembly before the dissolution of the state assembly saw PH holding 40 seats (PKR-19, DAP-15, Amanah-six), BN five, Bersatu four, Parti Bangsa Malaysia two, and PAS, Pejuang, and Warisan one each, along with one independent representative.

The Batang Kali seat meanwhile was declared vacant after the elected representative failed to attend the assembly sitting for over six months.