KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — Barisan Nasional’s rivals in the 15th general election were resorting to personal attacks against its leaders due to their own inadequacies, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

The BN chairman said this appeared to be the main way the coalition’s rivals were trying to gain support, instead of espousing their own achievements.

"They know their own manifesto cannot make it as the main narrative because there are so many weaknesses, and the implementation is unrealistic.

"They know their chances of winning are slim, so they promise anything as long as it looks good but populist,” Ahmad Zahid said on Facebook.

Ahmad Zahid referred to Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) former chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remark in GE14 that manifestos were not sacred, and said this has undermined trust in their latest election pledges.

"BN’s enemies do not dare to mention the word manifesto in the daily campaign. Enemies of BN are too afraid because their manifesto has already been recognised by their own allies as not a ‘bible’ and can be denied at will,” he said.

He claimed PH’s latest manifesto pledges were only empty promises to be repeated on the campaign trail.

Ahmad Zahid then alleged this was why there were bloggers now attacking him personally and accusing him of impropriety and corruption, even when he was trying to clear his name in court.

"Every effort to weaken BN from both inside and outside will only make BN more intelligent, stronger, more decisive and integrated,” he said.

BN is fielding 178 candidates at this year’s election, while PH is fielding 206 and Perikatan Nasional is fielding 171.