SELANGOR Barisan Nasional (BN) wants to contest the five state seats currently held by rival Perikatan Nasional (PN) parties, Bersatu and PAS, in the coming state elections, state leaders said.

Apart from that, the state BN also wants to defend its five seats.

The BN leaders said they will be negotiating with Pakatan Harapan (PH) soon on the seat allocation for the state polls, which are expected to be held in late June or early July.

The five seats currently held by PN are Gombak Setia, Bukit Antarabangsa, Selat Kelang and Dengkil, all by Bersatu, and PAS’ Sijangkang.

BN, meanwhile, controls the seats of Sungai Air Tawar, Sungai Panjang, Hulu Bernam, Sungai Burung and Semenyih – all through Umno.

PH, which rules Selangor, has control over 40 of the 56 seats in the state assembly.

The remainder of the seats were won by Pejuang (3), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (2) and Warisan (1).

In the November general election, Umno and BN failed to win any parliamentary seat in Selangor, but they claim to have managed to garner a lot of votes, especially in Malay-majority constituencies.

Selangor Umno treasurer Kamaruzzaman Johari told The Malaysian Insight that BN will have to discuss with PH soon to firm up the cooperation as well as confirm the seats to be allocated to it.

“So far, we have been working within the BN machinery. There has not been any move to work with PH. We have not even had any meeting on the seat allocation,” the Kota Raja Umno head said.

“Of course, we will work with PH in facing these elections. It is just that our election machinery has yet to be combined as a single team.”

Kamaruzzaman said BN does not expect to contest many seats in Selangor as it realises that PH is the holder of the most seats in the state assembly.

However, everything depends on the decision of the top leadership of BN and PH, he said.

“The leadership will discuss soon. We don’t expect to contest many seats. In Selangor, there are many incumbents from PH,” he said.

“They will not give us seats, but we are sure to maintain the existing five.

“If there are additional seats that PH has not won before, or seats from PN, then we will discuss.”

Kuala Selangor Umno division chief Jahaya Ibrahim also said BN will work with PH to face the coming state elections.

“What we understand is that we will cooperate with PH, but the leadership will decide (on the seats and machinery),” he said.

Recently, Selangor Umno chief Megat Zulkarnain Omardin was named as BN’s representative to start negotiations with PH for the state polls.

Umno president and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had previously said negotiations would also involve the number of seats that will be given to BN.

Meanwhile, at the PH front, the component parties have indicated they are unwilling to give up their seats for BN in Selangor.

Selangor DAP has said it wanted to contest all 16 seats won by the party in the 2018 general election. On top of that, the party is also eyeing the Selat Kelang, Semenyih and Teratai seats.

Amanah, meanwhile, has said it would not give up any of its seats for BN, adding that the talks with BN should only involve contesting PN seats.

Selangor PH chairman Amirudin Shari has said a combination of PH and BN would be able to win 53 of the 56 Selangor assembly seats. – March 6, 2023.