PERIKATAN Nasional (PN) will go all out in Negri Sembilan in the state polls to break Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) dominance in the state, party leaders said.

PN has no federal or state seats in Negri Sembilan but the leaders said they are confident about their work in the state, including a series of tours.

Negri Sembilan PN information chief Khairul Yazman Yahya said the big turnout at a mega ceramah last Sunday had signalled to PN to work harder in the state.

He said the warm response showed there was a big change of sentiment among the voters.

“We see the preference of the people changing from PH and BN to PN.

“Even though PN does not have a single seat in this state, we saw an increase the number of votes, which makes us confident that PN will be able to penetrate the state in the coming polls,” he said.

He said that a study conducted by the party showed that 60% of Malays now support PN.

“Our defeat in the general election (GE) was because at that time PN was not yet ready, especially from the point of view of cooperation and working at the party level.

“However, we have done a post mortem to identify weaknesses and that is what we are fixing now,” he said.

He said PN had identified state seats as soon as the GE was over.

“These are seats that we can potentially win. We focus on programmes in these areas and hold smaller group meetings. The result is what we saw at the mega ceramah last Sunday in Senawang,” he said.

A PAS grassroots leader, who did not want to be named, meanwhile, said the leadership’s efforts were clearly showing results, especially in the mega ceramah.

“It is true that at this moment all work is concentrated in Negri Sembilan. This mega ceramah was deliberately held in this state to measure the level of support.

“From our observation, with the presence of many visitors at the ceramah, we are very confident that PN’s desire to penetrate the state in this upcoming state election will be achieved,” he said.

For the past four months, PN has been mobilising its machinery and has been actively holding a series of tours and ceramah in the state.

In the GE last November, BN dominated five of the eight parliamentary seats in the state while the remaining three were won by Pakatan Harapan. State elections were not held then and are expected to be held by August.

In GE14, PH dominated Negri Sembilan, winning  20 state seats compared to BN’s 16.

PAS did not win a single seat in the state in the 29 seats it contested.

Protest votes

The grassroots leader said PN will succeed this time because it will get protest votes from Umno voters.

“We are very confident that there will be protest votes from Umno voters who are disappointed in their party, which is longer fighting for the rights of the Malays now that it is cooperating with PH and DAP.

“We are receiving many applications from Umno members who want to join PAS,” he said.

He said PAS had made great strides in Negri Sembilan in the general election even though it did not win any federal seats.

The PAS leader said PN has a good chance of winning the Lenggeng, Ampangan, Paroi and Batang Pinang constituencies.

“We are confident that we will be able to win over many Umno voters.

“As for Chinese voters, we know it’s really hard to attract them, but if PN gets 10% of their votes, it’s enough to guarantee PN victory in these seats,” he said.

On the distribution of seats among PN partners, the leader said negotiations are almost complete with PAS expected to contest as many as 14 seats.

“The rest will be divided between Bersatu and Gerakan, but we are waiting for the final decision because it also depends on the current arrangement.

He said a decision is expected this week. –  June 13, 2023.