GE14 | Caretaker Selangor menteri besar Azmin Ali has forecasted that Pakatan Harapan will be able to win “at least” 40 seats in Selangor and 112 seats nationwide.

This, he said, despite vote-splitting by many multi-cornered fights taking place in this election.

“I’m confident that (even) with three-cornered fights in Selangor, we should be able to retain and secure at least 40 seats.

“It is not about the multi-cornered fights but the clear and strong leadership that we have provided in Selangor in the last 10 years. 

“(And) the latest poll by Merdeka Centre is very positive, we hope these 37 marginal seats will be in our favour by 5pm (when voting closes). 

“We believe we should be able to get more than 112 seats to form a new (federal) government,” he told members of the press after he and his wife Shamsida Taharin successfully cast their votes at SK Klang Gate this morning.

Azmin said his predictions were based on how the opposition coalition had managed to engage many voters about their 14th general election manifesto, and explain to them their track record in managing Selangor and Penang.

Contrary to Azmin’s optimism, Merdeka Centre had predicted the odds to be in ruling coalition BN’s favour. 

It expected BN to win 100 parliamentary seats, Harapan to win 83 and PAS to win just two, all in Peninsular Malaysia.

"Given the findings, its (BN) retention of a plurality of support among Malay voters, alongside PAS' ability to retain at least one-quarter of the Malay vote share, we anticipate the BN will prevail in the election," the pollster had said. 

Azmin’s forecast of Selangor also comes at odds with that of another pollster, the Selangor state government Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE). 

IDE previously forecasted that the opposition would lose its supermajority in the state, whereas BN would double its current 12 seats.

Selangor has 56 state seats in total while the country has 222 parliamentary seats. A win of a minimum of 112 seats is needed to form the federal government.

Azmin is running for a third term for both the Gombak parliamentary seat and the Bukit Antarabangsa state seat as a Harapan-PKR candidate.