KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said that the coalition will bring together all political parties to contest all 56 seats at the upcoming Johor state election. 

A report by Malaysiakini said that Anwar’s plan to rope in all opposition parties — including Warisan, Muda and Pejuang — is to ensure that Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno would be defeated at the state polls, which he said would hopefully lead to wins for the coalition at the next general election. 

"A preliminary agreement has been made where we will open the space to rope in all opportunity forces and civil society to make sure there is a change. It is not going to help if there is a hairline crack (in the opposition).”

"We have to have one voice, one action and one strategy to ensure Umno/BN is defeated, starting in Johor,” he was quoted by Malaysiakini when reporters met him outside the PKR headquarters today. 

Earlier today a report by Malay daily Kosmo! said that Pejuang would run solo in the state election, but would be open to any form of cooperation from political parties wishing to do so during the state election.

"We will finalise the list of candidates to the central party’s committee the soonest. The priority in deciding where to field Pejuang candidates is assessed based on the majority of the Malay population in their respective areas,” said Johor Pejuang chief Datuk Saharuddin Mohd Salleh. 

Anwar added that the Johor chapter of the PH coalition would begin its seat negotiations on the ground. 

According to the report, it is up to the state coalition parties to decide on the seat allocation for the Senggarang, Mahkota and Serom seats, where Amanah lawmakers who won these seats had later defected to PKR.

On Saturday, the Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, consented to the dissolution of the Johor State Legislative Assembly to pave the way for the state election.

Rumours about a snap state election started shortly after the death of Kempas assemblyman Datuk Osman Sapian from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) last December 21.

The death of Osman, whose party is part of the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, had put the current state government situation as a one-seat majority in the Johor state assembly.

Datuk Hasni Mohammad currently leads the state government with 28 seats — holding a one-seat advantage over PH. 

Hasni’s Barisan Nasional holds 16 seats while Bersatu has 11 seats and PAS, just one.

The PH coalition controls 27 seats in the Johor state assembly with component parties DAP holding the most at 14, followed by PKR at seven and Parti Amanah Negara, six.