On the ground: Ahmad Zahid (right) meeting attendees at the at the Aidiladha Korban Perdana sacrificial ceremony and people’s feast organised by Barisan in Pantai Penunjuk in Chukai, Terengganu. — Bernama
CHUKAI: Barisan Nasional is expected to contest 45% of the 245 seats in the six state elections and the rest will be handled by Pakatan Harapan.
Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the decision was made based on the seats won by both coalitions in the last general election.
“This is based on the existing seats. That’s why Pakatan gets more. We will announce the statistics when everything is finalised,” he told reporters at the Aidiladha Korban Perdana sacrificial ceremony and people’s feast organised by Barisan in Pantai Penunjuk near here yesterday.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said Barisan would contest more than 100 state seats and the final decision would be made by him and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim soon.
The elections in six states involve 32 constituencies in Terengganu, 36 each in Kedah and Negri Sembilan, as well as Selangor (56), Kelantan (45) and Penang (40).
“The prime minister and I will discuss for the last time next week. God willing, we will also name the candidates.
“The political bureau has decided that for each state constituency, the state liaison committee will suggest at least three names,” he added, Bernama reported.
Ahmad Zahid said the evaluation and selection of the candidates would be based on qualities such as commitment, integrity, capability and winnability.
“It’ll be based on the chances of winning, acceptability and voters’ support.
“After being shortlisted, we will also do a health screening to determine that each candidate is ‘clean’ in terms of appearance, physicality and has a good level of health,” he said.
Regarding the criteria for the selection of the candidates, Ahmad Zahid said the emphasis was on young people to prove that the Barisan-Pakatan government was on the pulse of young voters.
“This has been proven in the Melaka and Johor polls. This is what new voters, who are in the age group of 40 and below – especially 18, 19 and 20 years old – want.
“In this matter, Barisan, especially Umno, considers this an important element to achieve victory in the state polls,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid added that component party machinery in the unity government would be launched in Selangor this Friday, followed by other states.
