KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — Kedah Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar has expressed confidence that the coalition together with its ally Barisan Nasional (BN) will be guaranteed to win 16 of the 36 state seats in Kedah in the August 12 state election, which means it would only need to win three more seats for the majority needed to form government.

In an interview with national daily Berita Harian (BH), Mahfuz was reported as saying that this "guarantee” of a 16-seat win is based on figures and statistics, and is a "realistic” number.

Mahfuz suggested that there are voters who do not find the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition — which was ruling Kedah — acceptable anymore.

"Our strength is in the urban and suburban areas, but what has to be seen is that change has now reached the rural areas.

"Change for people (voters) who feel no longer able to accept (PN) anymore. Maybe they were influenced and deceived as mentioned before elections, they ‘guilt voted’ for PN after believing sentiments being fanned that purportedly there were threats to religion and race,” he was quoted as saying by BH in a news report today.

In the full interview transcript published by BH yesterday, Mahfuz also responded to PN’s leaders claims that they could win 33 of the 36 state seats in Kedah.

Mahfuz suggested that PN leaders like caretaker Kedah menteri besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor had to make such assertions to avoid weakening PN’s election machinery.

In the same interview, Mahfuz claimed that PN has continuously played up racial and religious sentiments but said that people were starting to feel fed up with PN and can no longer accept politics based on such issues.

He also claimed that PN had not demonstrated it has plans to develop Kedah and that it is the federal government that helped bring in investments to the state, adding that the public wants to see development in Kedah that matches those in other states.