GE15: BN targeting wins in 16 federal, 36 state seats in Perak

IPOH, Aug 23 — Barisan Nasional (BN) is aiming to win 16 parliamentary seats in Perak in order to help the coalition form the government at the federal level in the 15th general election (GE15), said BN deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

Mohamad said the 16 parliamentary seats include the 11 incumbent seats already held by BN component parties.

"For Perak, the BN headquarters and my committee have given a heavy task to Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad and his team to retain the 11 incumbent seats.

"And we also want at least another five parliamentary seats. We have made the calculations, BN can form the government after GE15 if we get these seats,” he told a press conference last night after officiating the pre-launching of the Perak Barisan Nasional election machinery at the Casuarina Meru Hotel here.

For the state level, Mohamad said BN aims to win 36 state seats, including defending the 27 seats held by Umno representatives.

"We need to defend the existing 27 seats and win another nine. For tier one, we target the five seats which we lost with a majority of less than 1,000 votes in the last general election, which include Chenderiang currently held by former Perak Mentri Besar and Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

"Meanwhile, for tier two we target four state seats. If we work hard this might not be impossible to win. If we get all nine seats and defend the 27 seats, we can acquire a stable majority to form the state government in Perak,” he said.

Mohamad also urged BN members to set aside misunderstandings and personal interests as the priority right now is to win the election and form the government.

"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is waiting for our cue from all the component parties on whether we are ready to face the general election. No point we enter the election if we are not ready, since an election is like a war.

"Winning is our only priority. We don’t have any other choice than to win. If we go to war knowing that we are not ready and lose, then it is a waste,” he said.