JOHOR BARU, Feb 25 — Johor Barisan Nasional (BN) elected representatives have been called for a special meeting later today in light of the latest developments claiming that Umno has formed a coalition with several others, possibly to form the next federal government.
An informed party source confirmed that the meeting will be held at the Johor Umno state liaison office here in Jalan Yahya Awal at 4pm.
“The meeting, involving all BN state elected representatives, is called by Johor BN chief Datuk Hasni Mohammad, who is also the state Opposition leader.
“We expect the meeting to touch on the latest political situation at the federal level following yesterday’s developments,” the source told Malay Mail.
It is understood that the meeting will only involve BN state elected representatives and not MPs, which is at 14 based on the 2018 general election results.
The source did not dismiss the possibility of discussing a new state political bloc or coalition with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and the ousted PKR elected representatives with BN.
When asked if the meeting was for Johor BN to form the next state government, despite being a hanging state, the source declined to comment.
“It's just a meeting touching on the latest political situation,” said the source.
Yesterday, the shock resignation of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister saw the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government at federal level and left a power vacuum.
For Johor, it has been widely speculated that the southern state will see a hung state assembly if there is an emergence of a new political bloc or coalition.
PH has 39 seats in the 56-member Johor state assembly comprising 14 from DAP, 11 from Bersatu, nine from Amanah and five from PKR.
BN or Muafakat Nasional, on the other hand, has 17 seats comprising 14 from Umno, two from MIC and one from PAS.
In the event that Bersatu joins the Umno, PAS and MIC bloc, Johor will see an equal 28-28 seats among the two coalitions, leading to a hung state.
