Choose your battles in GE16, analyst advises BN

2026-03-05 - 01:23

Barisan Nasional plans to contest up to 115 seats in GE16 in the hope of regaining its lead role in the federal government. (Bernama pic) PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional (BN) should just go for winnable seats rather than set its sights on fielding a large number of candidates in the next general election (GE16), says an analyst. Universiti Utara Malaysia’s (UUM) Afifi Abdul Razak pointed out that the current political landscape is challenging and fluid. This means that BN must go for the right strategy, including continuing its alliance with Pakatan Harapan (PH) or forming a new one with Perikatan Nasional (PN), he told FMT. Afifi said the reality is that BN needs partners to win more seats. If it continues its alliance with PH there is promise of access to government resources, while partnering with PN will yield a major boost in Malay-majority areas. “Winning seats is more important than merely contesting. As such, BN should choose seats that it has a better chance of winning instead of just showing up for the battle,” he said. “BN also doesn’t need to waste its time and resources contesting in PH or PN strongholds,” he said, adding that some have even suggested that the coalition tries to become a kingmaker instead of a dominant party in GE16. Afifi said that with the right strategy and smooth machinery, BN could win 40 to 55 parliamentary seats in GE16. The Umno-led coalition currently has 30. Earlier this week, Malaysiakini quoted a source as saying that BN intends to contest at least 115 parliamentary seats in GE16 to enable the coalition to lead the federal government. The source, who attended a recent BN meeting, said the goal is to get rid of the perception that BN is just a “second player” behind PH in the unity government. He said it can do that by winning more seats than the Anwar Ibrahim-led coalition. Separately, Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said the target of 115 seats will likely be made up of constituencies where Malay voters make up more than 50% of voters. Although Umno won only 26 seats in the 2022 general election, Azmi said, the 115-seat target is logical as the party appears to have grown in strength and stability since then.