PH targeting Bersatu voters in Larkin amid PN rift

JOHOR BAHRU: Pakatan Harapan’s Suhaizan Kaiat is targeting Bersatu voters in Larkin here, saying the split within Perikatan Nasional has created an opportunity for his coalition to expand its support in the urban constituency.

The candidate from Amanah cited the results of the 2022 general election for the Johor Bahru parliamentary seat, under which Larkin falls.

Suhaizan said PN had secured 14,348 votes in Larkin then, with Bersatu contributing about 10,000 votes and PAS accounting for the remainder.

“Now that PN is split between Bersatu and PAS, we believe there is room for PH to win over those voters (who supported Bersatu),” he told FMT when met at a walkabout here.

Suhaizan, who is also Pulai MP, added that Bersatu voters had supported PH in 2018 when the party was still a component of the coalition.

Suhaizan is in a three-cornered contest in Larkin against BN’s former Larkin assemblyman Hairi Mad Shah and Bersama’s Norsinah Abu.

The constituency was created in 2018 and won by Bersatu’s Izhar Ahmad before Umno wrested it in the 2022 state election, with Hairi winning by a 6,178-vote majority in a six-cornered contest then.

Larkin has 76,662 voters, comprising 66% Malays, 29% Chinese and 5% Indians.