KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) will not contest any Johor state seats that Opposition parties are defending, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said.

In an event today, the Muda president said the party will instead run in seats where Umno or Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) were incumbent.

"My commitment as Muda president is to ensure Muda will not contest Keadilan, DAP or Amanah incumbent seats, and as you can see, Muda is contesting in seats previously won by either Umno or Bersatu because we want to make sure we bring long-term change, not just the state polls,” said Syed Saddiq, who is also Muar MP.

Syed Saddiq said Umno, Bersatu and their allies must be defeated to end what he called "domino politics” or the triggering of premature state elections one after another.

The Johor state election is the third since November last year and will take place while the country is facing a new wave of Covid-19 infections.

"Some said next will be Kedah, some said it will be in Perak, some said Sabah. When will it ever stop?” he added.

Two days ago, Johor PKR chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said seat negotiations with Muda were settled and the focus was now on winning the state election.

PKR previously offered Muda the Tanjung Surat, Sri Medan and Semarang seats in Johor but the latter reportedly rejected these as it wanted Kempas, Gambir and Larkin instead.

Muda will contest in at least six seats that were ceded to the party by PKR’s allies, DAP and Amanah.

The Election Commission has set March 12 as polling day for the Johor state election, with nomination day on February 26 and early voting on March 8.