DESPITE PAS choosing to contest almost all of Kedah’s parliamentary and state seats, the battle for the rice bowl of Malaysia is expected to come down to a straight fight between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan, said a political analyst.

All 15 parliamentary seats and 36 state seats will be multi-cornered fights in the coming polls on May 9.

But with many of PAS’ supporters now defecting to splinter party Amanah, voters will ultimately be left to decide between Umno and Bersatu, the latter of which is heading the opposition’s charge in Kedah, said Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) politics and public policy lecturer Mazlan Ali.

“PAS is only on paper because even with the significant votes they still have, it will be difficult for them to win (Kedah) as most of the votes they received in 2013 (the 13th general election) have gone to PH.

“The same thing goes for Umno votes. Most of them will go to Bersatu,” Mazlan told Malaysia Decides.

Bersatu is led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who hails from Kedah and is contesting in Langkawi, which was heavily developed during his 22-year tenure as Malaysia’s fourth prime minister.

The PH chairman will be battling BN’s incumbent Nawawi Ahmad, who won the parliamentary seat by a majority of 11,861 votes in the last general election.

Mazlan said Umno people in Kedah were torn by their loyalty to the party and their respect for Dr Mahathir.

Political observer and analyst Prof Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani said it would be a close fight between the two heavyweights as PH had fielded prominent and national figures to contest in both parliament and state seats, such as Dr Mahathir’s son and former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir, who will contest the Jerlun parliamentary seat and Jitra state seat, and Johari Abdul for the Sungai Petani parliamentary seat and Gurun state seat.

The hot seats in Kedah include Langkawi, Jerlun, Kubang Pasu, Pokok Sena, and Alor Setar.

BN has fielded many incumbents to defend their seats, including caretaker education minister Mahdzir Khalid (Padang Terap), deputy defence mnister Johari Baharum (Kubang Pasu) and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom (Jerai). – April 29, 2018.