KOTA BARU – The Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) alliance’s severe defeat in the Kelantan state election occurred as the people of this state are still seen as not being comfortable with the unity coalition.
Kelantan unity alliance chief Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub said that despite unofficially losing 43-2 to the PAS-led Perikatan Nasional, he saw that the people did not completely reject the PH-BN alliance.
According to Ahmad Jazlan, the popular vote for every state assembly seat contested by PH-BN increased even though the six seats BN won in the 14th general election were seized by PN in this state election.
“As a matter of fact, the people of Kelantan do not reject PH-BN, but this coalition is still not compatible with them.
“PH-BN has only been together for less than nine months, so give the people of Kelantan time to accept this combination. We have a long time to fix weaknesses for the upcoming election,” he said at a press conference at the Kelantan Umno headquarters in Kota Baru this evening.
Commenting further, Ahmad Jazlan said that the PH-BN coalition had given an attractive manifesto to the people of Kelantan, but they still chose PAS.
According to him, the unofficial results of the 43 seats won by PN in the polls clearly show that Kelantan voters can still accept policies carried out by PAS for more than 30 years.
“Don’t forget that PAS also made offers and presented their manifesto in Kelantan. They need to fulfil these despite many election promises that they have yet to fulfil.
“Based on the information received, the votes obtained by PH-BN in this election are a combination of votes received during the last 15th general election,” Ahmad Jazlan added. – Bernama, August 12, 2023
