TWO former ministers and three deputy ministers are among the 239 candidates who will contest in the Johor elections.

The two former ministers are former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik and ex-agriculture minister Salahuddin Ayub while the three deputy ministers are Mohd Puad Zarkashi, Shahruddin Md Salleh and Liew Chin Tong.

With the exception of Puad, all the others had served in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, with Shahruddin holding deputy minister positions, first under PH and then the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

Of the five, Maszlee, Salahuddin and Shahruddin are also current MPs in Simpang Rengam, Pulai and Sri Gading constituencies respectively.

Maszlee and Shahruddin are contesting for state seats under their parliamentary constituencies, Layang-Layang and Machap, while Salahuddin is defending his Simpang Jeram state seat.

Puad, who is a former two-term lawmaker for Batu Pahat (2008-2018), will contest the Rengit state seat which falls under the Batu Pahat federal constituency, while former two-term MP Liew will vie for the Perling state seat in the Pulai constituency.

Another MP who is looking to bag a state seat is Parti Bangsa Malaysia and Tebrau MP Steven Choong, who will contest the Puteri Wangsa seat.

At the close of the nominations today, the Election Commission (EC) announced that there were 239 candidates for the Johor polls with Barisan Nasional (BN) and PN leading the way with 56 each, followed by PH (50), Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) (42), Parti Ikatan Demokratik Malaysia (Muda) (7), Parti Warisan (Warisan) (6), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) (4), Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) (1) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) (1).  

The EC added that there would be 16 Independent candidates contesting the 56 seats.

Among the independents is Najib Lep who is defending the Bukit Pasir seat after being dropped by PAS. In the 2018 general election, Najib won the seat by beating BN’s Noriah Mahat by 1,883 votes.

The EC also said there would be two seven-cornered fights – in Tiram and Kempas.

Additionally, there will be four six-cornered fights, eight five-cornered contests, 35 four-way tussles and seven three-cornered battles.

The EC further revealed that a quarter of the 239 contestants in the Johor polls are “youth” candidates, as they are below age 40.

These 60 candidates comprise eight who are below the age of 30, and 52 who are between 30 and 39 years old, according to figures tabulated by the EC.

The remainder of the candidates are aged 40 and above, with 72 in the 40-49 bracket, 64 in the 50-59 bracket, and 43 aged 60 and above.

EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said the oldest candidate is 71 years old, fielded by PN in the Bukit Permas seat.

The youngest candidates, meanwhile, are both 26 years old, fielded by BN in the Mengkibol seat, and by Pejuang in Tangkak.

The EC has set March 12 as polling day and early voting will be on March 8.

Johor has 56 state constituencies, with more than 2.59 million voters who are eligible to cast their ballots. The EC is targeting a 70% turnout. – February 26, 2022.