BARISAN Nasional has decided to stand alone in the upcoming Malacca state elections and will contest in all 28 seats.

BN deputy chairman Mohamad Hasan said Umno will contest in 20 seats; MCA, seven; and MIC, one.

He reiterated that BN has decided to stand alone and will not be joining any party.

“There will be 86% new faces and only four other candidates will be returning. The last time, we did not even have 50% new faces,” he said at the Umno headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Mohamad said 28% of the candidates are below the age of 45.

“Five of the candidates will be women – four from Umno and one from MCA,” he said.

Mohamad said all candidates will have to sign agreements not to jump parties, or they would face legal action as a result.

He said they will have to sign a few agreements to pledge their support for BN.

“There could be legal measures based on their actions (leaving BN),” he said.

“I hope that this commitment (by candidates) will give the people confidence to choose the party that is committed to ensuring stability in Malacca.”

He said the BN theme for the Malacca elections is “stability for prosperity”.

“We want stability after the elections so that the interests of the people can be looked into,” he said.

“So, the people must give their trust to the party that can bring stability after the elections.”

On October 5, four assemblymen announced they had withdrawn support for the state government led by Sulaiman Md Ali, which saw the dissolution of the state assembly, paving the way for the polls.

The Election Commission has set November 8 for nominations while polling will be held on November 20.

The four assemblymen are Idris Haron (Sg Udang), Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas) and Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu). – November 6, 2021.