Aiming to win at least 70 seats in GE15, Umno says Malay voters won’t choose ‘betrayer’ Bersatu

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 ― Umno will be contesting at least 80 seats at the upcoming 15th general election (GE15) and is confident of winning 70 to 80 of them, Umno Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said.

In an interview with Malay daily Utusan Malaysia, Mohamad said voters would no longer choose Pakatan Harapan (PH) based on its last performance ruling, but also not Perikatan Nasional (PN) due to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s political “betrayal”.

“Malay voters will not vote for PN because Bersatu betrayed PH. PN will not get the Malay votes, because their supporters are divided between themselves and PH.

“Umno-Barisan Nasional still has its base supporters, our hardcore supporters,” he reportedly said.

Bersatu was part of PH when the coalition took over Putrajaya in 2018.

Last year, it broke away from PH to form the PN government with former political enemies Umno and PAS.

Mohamad added that in the previous GE14, Umno was hated by many but still managed to win 54 seats, adding that Umno is confident that they will win between 70 to 80 seats in the coming elections.

“Back then, people hated Umno to the core and were riding PH’s sudden rise in popularity with their promises and manifestos, so there is no way we cannot win more than 54 seats in the next elections,” he reportedly said.

In GE14, Umno only won 54 seats out of 120, down from 88 in the 2013 election.

Mohamad said as of now, Umno is currently negotiating the division of seats with its Muafakat Nasional partner PAS.

However, Mohamad added that if the Islamist party decides to not work with Umno in GE15, Umno will have no qualms about contesting on its own.

“The negotiation with PAS is still ongoing. But we have to consider the 18 seats that PAS have already won would have to be set aside from the 117 core Malay seats in Peninsular Malaysia,” he was quoted saying.

“Umno will usually contest in areas where more than 50 per cent of the voters are Malay. During GE14, Umno contested 120 seats.

“If Umno and PAS are to work together during GE15, Umno will need to divide the seats fairly and without risk of either party losing anything as both parties want to win,” he added.