Asia

Melaka state election: Anwar's PH, Muhyiddin's Bersatu avoid clashes in 4 seats as candidates confirmed

Analysts say Melaka could serve as a testing ground to see whether Bersatu can help Pakatan Harapan win over Malay voters ahead of Malaysia's next general election.

Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim (left) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Muhyiddin Yassin. (Photos: Facebook/Anwar Ibrahim, Muhyiddin Yassin)

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KUALA LUMPUR: The campaign for the 16th Melaka state election officially began on Saturday (Oct 31) with all 28 seats to be contested, the Election Commission announced after candidates were confirmed on nomination day.

The line-up for the Nov 14 election offers clues about potential political alliances, notably with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) avoiding direct contests in four seats.

Analysts told CNA the nominations show PH and Bersatu are informally cooperating, although some internal pushback from at least one component party means they have not explicitly admitted it.

Future cooperation depends on whether Bersatu can help PH win some of the Malay votes in Melaka and stem the “Malay tsunami”, the analysts said, referring to how the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) partnership has swept to resounding victories in recent state elections.

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This comes as BN is widely expected to retain control of Melaka after successful campaigns alongside the opposition coalition PN in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, as the coalitions continue to test their alliance ahead of the 16th General Election, due by February 2028.

NO WALKOVERS

A total of 79 candidates are vying for the 28 seats in Melaka – which will see straight fights in 11 constituencies, 11 three-cornered contests, and six four-cornered contests.

PH will contest in 24 seats, while Bersatu has fielded candidates in seven seats.

BN, Anwar’s partner in the federal unity government, will contest 23 seats in a partnership with PN, which will contest the remaining five seats.

BN component party the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) had threatened to derail the alliance after it said it was unsatisfied with the number of seats it was allocated following initial negotiations.

This dispute appeared to have been resolved following eleventh-hour talks between the two coalitions, when MCA was eventually given two more seats – Bandar Hilir and Kota Laksamana – to contest.

The BN-PN partnership began when Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) – a lynchpin PN component party – called on its supporters to support BN at the Johor state election in July.

This was followed by the Negeri Sembilan state election in August, when the BN-PN partnership wrested control of the state from PH and claimed a supermajority in the legislative assembly.

“PSEUDO COOPERATION”

Bersatu, an erstwhile PN component party, is trying to forge its own political path after falling out with PAS over the running of PN.

On Thursday, Bersatu president Muhyiddin and other lawmakers signed an agreement to support Anwar's government on key parliamentary votes, raising speculation that Bersatu could work with PH in the Melaka election.

But Muhyiddin said the confidence and supply agreement did not signal an electoral pact, and on Friday local media reported that PH had decided to go solo after discussions on a PH Plus arrangement with Bersatu fell through.

Still, PH has avoided fielding candidates in four seats – Lendu, Sungai Udang, Pantai Kundor and Bemban – that Bersatu will contest.

Azmi Hassan, a senior fellow at the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, said “there is some sort of pseudo cooperation” going on between PH and Bersatu.

“True enough, there is some testing right now (even though) DAP says (PH) should not have worked together with Bersatu because of backstabbing,” he told CNA.

Azmi was referring to how the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a PH component party, had opposed cooperation with Bersatu after the latter orchestrated a political manoeuvre known as the “Sheraton Move” in February 2020.

Bersatu was originally a key component of the PH coalition that won the 2018 General Election, ending BN’s long rule. But Bersatu withdrew from PH in 2020, triggering the collapse of the federal government and the eventual resignation of then-premier Mahathir Mohamad.

“I think Pakatan Harapan is still trying to figure out whether Bersatu can deliver the Malay votes,” Azmi added.

“Both Bersatu and Pakatan Harapan are trying to figure out the benefits of working with each other in the future.”

James Chin, an Asian studies professor at the University of Tasmania, said “it is quite obvious that there is an informal understanding between Bersatu and PH”.

“This is not surprising because Bersatu has burnt its bridges with PAS,” he told CNA.

“The places where (PH and Bersatu are) confronting each other is because they couldn't agree (on seat negotiations). Other than that, it's obvious that they're supporting each other.”

Whether this partnership continues to the next general election depends on how well PH and Bersatu fare in Melaka, Chin said.

“The so-called Malay tsunami between (BN lynchpin party) UMNO and PAS is on track to get at least 24 seats,” he added.

“If they're going to lose any seats, it will be to DAP in the Chinese areas. Even when looking at the statistics, I cannot see any other party making headway.”

CANDIDATE BREAKDOWN

On Saturday, the Election Commission said Parti Bersama Malaysia (Bersama) will also contest 16 seats in Melaka, while Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) will contest one seat. Three seats will be contested by independent candidates.

Sixty-five of the candidates for the Melaka election are men and 14 are women. The youngest is 24, while the oldest is 66.

Close to 690,000 registered voters will be able to cast their ballots in Melaka after a 14-day campaigning period.

Melaka caretaker chief minister Ab Rauf Yusoh announced the official dissolution of the state legislative assembly on Sep 23, paving the way for an election that was otherwise due by February 2027.

Before the dissolution, the BN coalition had led the Melaka state government.

In the 2021 state election, BN won 21 of the 28 seats, while PH secured five seats and PN claimed two seats.

PH joined the state government in 2023 when Ab Rauf became chief minister and reshuffled the executive council to reflect the PH-BN partnership at the federal level following the 2022 general election that had resulted in a hung parliament.

PH, however, withdrew its support for the state government in July in protest against a constitutional amendment allowing for the appointment of nominated assemblymen.