Pagoh no longer Muhyiddin’s stronghold, says Umno man

MUAR: The parliamentary constituency of Pagoh can no longer be considered the stronghold of Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and Perikatan Nasional (PN), says a Barisan Nasional candidate.

Umno’s Fazli Salleh, who is running for election in Bukit Pasir, one of two state seats in Pagoh, said the current political dynamics mean that no seat can be deemed “safe” for any party.

Although he won the seat with a slim 198-vote majority in 2022, he said the result proved that voters base their decisions on performance rather than the influence of senior figures.

Fazli acknowledged that Muhyiddin’s influence was still a factor given that he had been the Pagoh MP since 1978 and had contributed greatly to the area’s development.

However, he expressed confidence that voters would evaluate the performance of candidates and the incumbent state government during the state election.

“Although some people label Pagoh as a PN or Muhyiddin stronghold, I am confident that the people of Bukit Pasir know how to evaluate (which party and candidate to vote for),” he told FMT.

Muhyiddin retained his Pagoh seat for a ninth term in the 2022 general election (GE15) with a convincing 10,007-vote majority.

Based on the vote breakdown by state constituency, the former prime minister secured a majority of over 5,000 votes in Bukit Kepong and over 4,000 in Bukit Pasir.

In the election on July 11, Fazli faces Perikatan Nasional candidate Idzhar Nasiruddin of Bersatu and Pakatan Harapan’s Najib Lep, of Amanah.

Najib was the Bukit Pasir assemblyman from 2018 to 2022, when he was still in PAS.

Fazli said Muhyiddin’s majority in GE15 should be not be the main benchmark for how Bukit Pasir voters will cast their ballots.

He noted that the voter turnout in GE15 was much higher than in the 2022 state election, saying a similar lower turnout could be expected for this year’s state polls.

His aim is to increase his majority at the polls after serving as Bukit Pasir assemblyman and a state executive councillor over the past four years.