JOHOR BARU, Nov 3 — Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) will only contest one federal seat in Johor in the 15th general election, contrary to its earlier announcements.

Johor Warisan secretary Hishamuddin Busri today confirmed the decision was made last week by the party’s national leadership to only contest the Sekijang seat as its sole parliamentary constituency in the southern peninsula state.

"We were initially expecting to contest in at least three federal seats in Johor which are Sekijang, Tanjung Piai and Pasir Gudang.

"However, we respect the national leadership’s decision to only contest in the Sekijang federal seat. There is no issue for us,” Hishamuddin told Malay Mail when contacted.

Expectations were high as Warisan had entered Johor in a big way during the state election last March where the former Sabah-based party took on established parties from Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).

But in recent days, Johor Warisan appeared to have quietened down rather than ramping up preparations for official campaigning that will kick off tomorrow on Nomination Day.

Hishamuddin said the Warisan’s Sekijang candidate is Johor-based Dr Mohd Zohar Ahmad.

”The 50-year-old doctor is known to the Sekijang, Muar and Segamat communities.

"Despite being in politics since 2005, the GE15 Dr Mohd Zohar’s first time as a candidate,” he said on the party’s sole candidate for Johor.

Dr Mohd Zohar is expected to directly lock horns with another medical expert representing PH, Dr Zaliha Mustafa from PKR.

At the same time, he will also be up against BN’s Md Salleheen Mohamad, PN’s Uzzair Ismail and Parti Pejuang Tanah Air‘s Mohd Saiful Faizal Abd Halim, who is from Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia, in a five-cornered contest.

The Sekijang parliamentary constituency was created in 2004. It is a Malay majority seat, making up 59.24 per cent. The Chinese make up 36.15 per cent, followed by the Indians at 4 per cent and other races at 0.61 per cent.

The northern Johor parliament constituency was seen as a BN stronghold prior to the 14th general election in 2018 where it lost to PH.