PKR, Amanah take 20 seats each in Johor but door still open for Muda

PKR and Amanah are taking 20 seats each for the upcoming Johor state election, while DAP is taking 16 seats, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu confirmed today.

This is after the party divided the 18 seats previously contested by Bersatu, with PKR and Amanah each taking eight additional seats and DAP an extra two. Johor has 56 state seats.

However, the door is still not closed to other opposition parties - Pejuang, Warisan, and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) - to cooperate with Harapan.

Sin Chew Daily cited Mohamad as saying that negotiations with the three outside parties are ongoing and could be concluded in two days. He was speaking at a press conference in Johor Bahru.

The situation is expected to be more flexible this time around, with DAP and Amanah having more say after PKR decided to contest using its own logo.

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has said that he will seek the authority to sign candidate forms to be transferred from him to Mohamad and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

If this goes through, even if PKR refuses to cede any seats, Amanah and DAP can still make way individually and even authorise for outside candidates to contest under the Harapan logo.

Muda had previously sought to contest under Harapan in the Malacca state election, but talks fell through after PKR and Amanah decided to field Umno defectors as candidates.

Bersatu offshoot Pejuang, meanwhile, had previously said it plans to contest 42 out of 56 seats in Johor.

Harapan had appealed for the opposition to join forces in Johor in a bid to thwart Umno-BN, as well as Perikatan Nasional.

On Harapan's seat distribution, it is not clear which former Bersatu seats have gone to which party, or if there are any swaps between the components.

However, Johor PKR Women's leader Napsiah Khamis revealed that the Puteri Wangsa seat had been given to Amanah.

It was not a decision she was happy with.

"We cleared out the bushes, planted the seeds, but 'they' come to reap the harvest.

"Are 'they' strong? No... we are weak," she quipped in a Facebook post today.

However, she assured that despite Amanah not being active in Puteri Wangsa, she said she would still mobilise PKR machinery to ensure Harapan's victory.

Puteri Wangsa was won by Bersatu's Mazlan Bujang in 2018. He quit the party yesterday and is widely speculated to be rejoining Umno.

Reporting by Alyaa Alhadjri, Ng Xiang Yi, and Zikri Kamarulzaman