BARISAN Nasional (BN) will push for an early general election no matter if it wins or loses in the Johor elections later this month, said its deputy chairman Mohamad Hassan.

Mohamad, who is also Umno deputy president, said BN wants an early general election not because it is greedy for power, but because it wanted a stable government.

“It doesn’t matter if we win big or not, or if we lose, we still want to push for an early general election.

“We want an early general election, just like why we pushed for this early state polls, not because of greed for power, not because we want to disrupt, but because we want to restore stability to the country, stability to the state of Johor.

“Because stability is the main cause. When there is political stability and the people’s confidence is there, the country will be the priority and leaders can focus on programmes to prosper and develop the country,” said Mohamad, who is also BN’s election director for Johor.

He said this during a press conference after a session to meet the BN machinery in Machap today.

He said the federal government led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is only surviving due to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pakatan Harapan.

Mohamad added that BN would not have any advantage by holding an early GE15.

The general election is only due next year but Umno has been making calls for it to be held earlier, preferably by the middle of this year.

Under the MOU between Ismail and PH, the elections can be called after June this year.

Mohamad said whoever wins GE15 must be able to form a stable government.

As for the Johor elections, Mohamad said political parties, including BN, are facing a new situation through the participation of automatically registered voters and their unpredictable attitude.

“We are facing new voters whom we know nothing about, so we can’t say who they will vote for.”

The Johor polls will see the participation of more than 700,000 new voters who are automatically registered.

The state elections will also see the participation of several new parties such as Muda, Pejuang, Parti Bangsa Malaysia, and the Sabah-based Warisan.

The Election Commission has set March 12 as the polling day. – February 28, 2022.