BARISAN Nasional will secure the numbers and form the government at the end of the 2022 general election, Mohamad Hasan said, amid claims from rival coalitions that they will form the next government.

The Umno deputy president, however, did not reveal the number of seats BN is sure of winning.

“I came from the war room and I looked at it (data) myself. I’m confident that we can form the government on the night of November 19 or morning of November 20.

“I don’t want to tell the number yet. We can cross the bridge, I’m quite confident,” he was quoted as saying at a press conference today.

Mohamad said he had made a similar prediction during the Malacca and Johor elections.

“In Malacca, 15 days before polling, I said we can win a minimum of 18 seats and we closed the numbers at 21.

“This time around, the same method and formula are applied, very rigid.

“We gave a lot of leeway (to our figures) and we can still cross the bridge,” said Mohamad.

Mohamad or Tok Mat as he is known, also said the three-way fight between the major coalitions will result in votes being split, to the advantage of BN.

“When I say cross the bridge, we already crossed 50%. In three-cornered fights, we don’t need 50%, because votes are divided by three.

“So, that’s how I looked at the figure,” he said.

He dismissed talk that the Perlis government will fall to the opposition following the decision by Umno bigwigs to contest under opposition tickets.

Former Perlis BN strongman Shahidan Kassim who was dropped as the coalition’s Arau candidate is contesting the seat as a Perikatan Nasional candidate while Zahidi Zainul Abidin is standing as an independent candidate in Padang Besar.

Mohamad said the caretaker Perlis menteri besar Azlan Man had said that the coalition will secure eight state seats for a majority in the 15-seat state legislative assembly. – November 14, 2022.