PAKATAN Harapan has lost a significant portion of its support, if the Johor elections are any indication, DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said.

According to Loke, despite the low turnout, DAP did manage to retain 10 seats in the recent state elections.

Based on this result, Loke said the party should ramp up preparations and be ready for a general election by August.

“Based on the voting pattern in Johor, DAP will set a specific action plan for the next four months.

“We will set a target that the entire party must be ready by August 2022,” he said on Facebook today.

Loke said analysis of voting patterns was presented to the DAP’s central executive committee (CEC) recently, to understand the impact it would have on the next general election. 

During the Johor polls on March 12, Barisan Nasional scooped 40 out of 56 seats to set up a supermajority in the state government.

PH and PKR combined won 13 seats, while Perikatan Nasional won three seats.

Meanwhile, Loke said DAP leaders are well aware that one of the main conditions of the anti-party hopping bill is to ensure it is passed in Parliament to restore voters’ confidence in the electoral system.

“The whole party will give its full support to deputy chairman Gobind Singh to represent DAP in the select committee set to draft the bill.

“The main objective of the CEC retreat is to rekindle hope and confidence in all DAP leaders to lead our grassroots members to fight hard and win the people’s support in the next election.”

Yesterday, the government decided to defer amending article 10 (3a) of the Federal Constitution, referring bill and the drafting of anti-party hopping legislation to a special select committee, which also followed a discussion between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and PH leaders late on Sunday evening.

Law and Parliament Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the prime minister and PH agreed to review and refine the (legal) interpretation of restrictions on party-hopping, and to study the repeal of article 48(6) and other related laws.

“They also decided that a special select committee will decide the constitutional amendments and the formulation of a new anti-party-hopping bill,” he said. – April 12, 2022.