By Aqil Haziq Mahmud

Copyright channelnewsasia

The 15th general election (GE15) in November 2022 was UMNO’s worst performance in history, as the party only managed to win 27 seats and 31 per cent of the popular vote.

The election results led to a hung parliament, and after royal intervention, the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional coalition eventually formed a unity government with Anwar’s PH coalition and other parties. PAS and Bersatu became the opposition.

The DAP – a Chinese-majority PH component party – has a long-standing rivalry with PAS due to perceived differences in political ideology.

The Pahang and Perak state elections were held concurrently with GE15, while the Selangor polls were held about a year later in August 2023.

Meanwhile, a slew of state elections – chiefly in Sabah, Melaka, Johor and Sarawak – are expected to be held between now and 2028, by when the next general election is due.

NATIONAL POWER

At GE15, PAS emerged as the party with the most seats by winning 43 of the 222 seats in parliament.

Hadi on Monday urged PAS to build on its “greatest success” of the previous general election, as the party sets its sights on winning 80 seats at the next general election.

“Therefore, it is our duty to continue the struggle, for sustaining victory is more challenging than attaining it,” he said.

At the press conference, Hadi also addressed questions of whether PAS would name its own prime minister candidate by repeating what party leaders had previously said.

“We are ready to lead Malaysia and our priority is to get support and win the election. The issue of choosing who will be leader – that will be settled internally,” he said, adding that the candidate should ideally be someone who is younger than 70.