Malaysian PM Anwar plays down need for snap poll after Johor election defeat
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Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim’s PH lost ground in the Johor state elections, winning only eight out of 56 assembly seats.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
- Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim downplays calls for a snap general election after Pakatan Harapan's poor showing in Johor state polls.
- PH won only 8 of 56 seats in Johor, with Barisan Nasional sweeping 48 seats, following PH's weak Sabah election results.
- Anwar urges focus on economic growth and plans to face another state election in Negeri Sembilan on Aug 1, amid shifting political alliances.
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KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has played down the need to call for a snap poll after his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition suffered a bruising defeat at Johor state elections over the weekend.
“Give us time, we have the mandate,” Anwar told fellow lawmakers on July 14 when asked if he would dissolve Parliament due to the current political and economic climate.
“The people also do not want us to engage in politics all the time, they want the economy to grow.”
Anwar’s PH lost ground in the Johor state elections, winning only eight out of 56 assembly seats, down from 12 previously.
Federal partner Barisan Nasional (BN) swept the remaining 48 seats.
The defeat comes hot on the heels of PH’s poor performance in Sabah state elections in 2025, where the party won only one seat.
Anwar had previously raised the prospect of a snap poll due to tensions within the ruling coalition after BN chose to contest the Johor polls on its own.
Before the weekend vote, people familiar with Anwar’s thinking said the premier was considering calling a general election by October.
His current term doesn’t expire until February 2028.
Anwar’s party will have to battle BN again shortly in another state election that’s coming up in Negeri Sembilan on Aug 1.
Malaysia has 13 states in total.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP), the largest party in Malaysia’s ruling coalition, said in early June that it will wait until state elections in Johor and Negeri Sembilan are out of the way before holding a national congress to determine whether it will continue to be in Anwar’s government.
Declining support from ethnic Chinese toward the ruling coalition in the South-east Asian nation is making some factions reconsider their alliances. BLOOMBERG
