KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Making way for the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) to contest in Johor is part of a bigger plan to strengthen the Opposition, with the ultimate goal of forming a government, said DAP’s Lim Guan Eng.

The party’s secretary-general told Free Malaysia Today (FMT) the decision to open the door to Muda in Johor was made in good faith and in the principle of winning together.

"Winning that seat is not the purpose. Winning seats sufficient to form a government should be the ultimate purpose,” he was quoted as saying by FMT today.

Muda will field candidates in seven seats after reaching an agreement with Pakatan Harapan’s Amanah and DAP earlier this month.

Muda president Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and Lim said the three parties came to an agreement in the interest of broader political cooperation both during and after the election.

The seven seats allocated to Muda are Larkin, Tenang, Bukit Kepong, Parit Raja, Machap, Puteri Wangsa and Bukit Permai.

Lim said if the parties stood for election separately, they would likely fail to secure seats in view of the Melaka and Sarawak state elections where they lost by small margins.

He said the losses were down to a low voter turnout, adding that DAP was trying to foster better communication with voters.

Muda will clash with PKR in Larkin, causing some discontent among members of the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led party that announced it would not provide the former with any assistance as Muda had not agreed to the seats PKR initially allocated them.

There will be 239 candidates in the Johor polls, paving the way for multi-cornered contests in all 56 seats.

The Election Commission has set March 12 as the polling date for the state election and early voting will be on March 8.

Johor has 56 state constituencies, with more than 2.59 million voters who are eligible to cast their ballots. The EC is targeting a 70 per cent voter turnout.