KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — Barisan Nasional (BN) led the popular vote in the Johor state election yesterday with 599,753 votes or 43.11 per cent.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) which took 334,457 votes or 24.04 per cent and Pakatan Harapan (PH) with 284,969 votes (20.48 per cent) came in second and third respectively.

PKR, which contested using its own logo this time, obtained 82,556 votes or 5.93 per cent while Muda, which went to the polls for the first time, received 48,072 votes or 3.46 per cent.

Popular vote refers to the total number of votes won by each party or its coalition.

Meanwhile, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) obtained 18,692 votes or 1.34 per cent followed by Independent candidates with 10,007 votes (0.72 per cent), Warisan (6,523 votes or 0.47 per cent) and Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) with 4,880 votes (0.35 per cent).

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) got 997 votes (0.07 per cent) and Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (PUTRA) received 247 votes or 0.02 per cent.

Meanwhile, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) political analyst, Assoc Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said the percentage of popular votes favouring BN resulted from loyal voters who wanted the coalition to take over the state administration.

He said the popularity of Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad who brought the concept of ‘Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) to Johor also contributed a lot to the votes.

"Hasni is said to have helped those affected by Covid-19, especially Chinese traders in the state, with plans under his leadership,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

He said Hasni’s multi-ethnic relationship also complemented BN’s success in the election.

Commenting on PN’s higher popular vote than PH even though PH won more seats, Sivamurugan said with the ‘first past the post’ system practised in the country, the number he said did not represent the number of seats won.

"PH’s vote performance, which was previously usually higher than other parties, also needs to be studied. They need to do a post-term on the reduction in votes as it is quite surprising,” he said.

Yesterday, the results yesterday saw BN once again expand its dominance when it gained a huge mandate of more than two-thirds majority when it won 40 state assembly seats with Umno winning 33 state seats, with MCA, four, and MIC three.

It is followed by PH (11), PN (three), Muda (one) and PKR (one).

The Johor state election saw 239 candidates from 15 political parties contesting for 56 state seats, and 1,426,573 people or 54.92 per cent voted. — Bernama