BN wants to contest all 'traditional' seats, Zahid says Umno 'owns' Bersatu seat
BN wants to contest all it's "traditional" seats that it either won in the 14th general election or in subsequent by-elections.
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also said that his party "owns" a Bersatu seat, that was originally won on a BN ticket.
This move will likely put BN and Umno at odds with Perikatan Nasional ally Bersatu - which has 32 seats, of which 13 were won on a BN ticket before defecting to Bersatu...
BN wants to contest all it's "traditional" seats that it either won in the 14th general election or in subsequent by-elections.
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also said that his party "owns" a Bersatu seat, that was originally won on a BN ticket.
This move will likely put BN and Umno at odds with Perikatan Nasional ally Bersatu - which has 32 seats, of which 13 were won on a BN ticket before defecting to Bersatu.
The announcement of BN's plans for the 15th general election was tweeted by the coalition's secretary-general Annuar Musa tonight.
"BN wishes to defend all its traditional seats whether it was won in GE14 or by-elections," he wrote in all capital letters.
Meanwhile, Zahid in an earlier Facebook post, said Umno owns the Mersing seat.
"Whether there is an apology or misunderstanding, Mersing still belongs to Umno. Umno will stay relevant," he posted on Facebook.
This was a response to Bersatu's Mersing MP Abdul Latiff Ahmad, who had offended Umno by saying the latter was not popular in Sabah. He had apologised for the remark.
It is unclear if the announcements by Annuar and Zahid meant that BN will be staking a claim for all 13 Bersatu seats whose MPs had defected from Umno.
It is also unclear if Umno will be demanding for the seats they contested in but lost to other parties such as its ally PAS.
However, just seven minutes before Annuar's announcement, he also tweeted his hope that Muafakat Nasional, a coalition that includes Umno and PAS, can reach a mutual understanding with Bersatu.
"God willing, this understanding can be extended to Bersatu and others. Openness and moderation are the basis for cooperation," Annuar said.
He was responding to a tweet this morning by Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin about a Muafakat Nasional negotiating committee meeting achieving further consensus, ostensibly about seat allocations for the coming general election.
On July 2, Annuar was quoted by Berita Harian as saying that Umno and PAS have agreed in principle to support Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime ministerial candidate in the 15th general election, sparking protests from a number of senior Umno leaders.
Annuar subsequently clarified that this position is for the present, should snap elections be called, but he could not say if their stand would remain the same if the general election were to be held years down the road.
Disputed Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad had previously warned that the party could be wiped out if it continued to be aligned with PN, as Umno and PAS were unlikely to give space to Bersatu.
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