PERAK Barisan Nasional (BN) needs to win another nine state seats, and retain the 27 seats it had won, to form a strong state government after the next general election, BN deputy chairman Mohamad Hasan said.

He said the nine seats are divided into two tiers, the first of which concerns seats BN lost with a majority of fewer than 1,000 votes.

As for the parliamentary seats, he said, Perak BN also needs to add five more seats to the existing 11.

“We want to form a state government with a comfortable majority. So I advise everyone to set aside personal interests and any misunderstandings. Our priority is to win the GE and form a government,” he told a press conference after a gathering with the Perak BN polls machinery in Ipoh last night.

In the 2018 general election, BN won in 27 out of the 59 state constituencies and 11 out of the 24 parliamentary seats in Perak.

Mohamad, who is also the BN election director, said that based on his observation from his visit to 11 states, including Perak, BN is ready to face the next general election.

“The prime minister is waiting for our cue, to see if we are ready or not. There is no point entering the general election if we are not ready because it is like going to war, where we have to win and for that, we have to be prepared,” he said.

Also present were Perak BN chairman Saarani Mohamad, BN secretary-general Zambry Abdul Kadir, MCA deputy president Dr Mah Hang Soon, MIC deputy president M. Saravanan and Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan.

Meanwhile, on the meeting between Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the party’s division heads yesterday, Mohamad said it was a normal meeting.

When about the meeting between Umno’s top leaders with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob at Seri Perdana last night, Mohamad said it was to brief the prime minister on the party. – Bernama, August 23, 2022.