Gerakan does not support polls for Johor, urges focus on solving flood problems first
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) today said it will not support any bid to dissolve the Johor state assembly to pave the way for a fresh state election while residents there are affected by the floods.
Its president Datuk Dominic Lau said rather than risk sparking another Covid-19 wave with a state election, focus should be given on preventing the spread of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.
“For Gerakan, our stand is we do not support calling for Johor election as we all have to focus on Covid-19 and the floods in Johor.
“The people comes first, so we say we must focus on controlling Covid-19,” he told a news conference at the party headquarters here.
He added that the priority should be on solving flood problems than holding fresh elections, noting that Johor is still in the grips of the disaster due to heavy rains across the state.
Social media has been rife with rumours that the Umno-led Johor government would call for an early election in order to obtain a stronger mandate.
Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad controls the state legislative assembly by dint of one seat over the Opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH), following the December 21, 2021 death of the pro-government Kempas assemblyman Datuk Osman Saipan who was from Bersatu.
Hasni, who is also the Johor Umno liaison committee chairman, said the government’s razor thin majority in the state assembly is something he needs to look into and assess. However, no decision has been reported to be reached as of last Monday.
The state government has 28 seats led by BN with 16 seats, Bersatu (11), and PAS (one), while PH has 27 seats.
Gerakan is currently allied with Bersatu and PAS under the Perikatan Nasional banner and are expected to contest in Chinese-majority and mixed seats usually against MCA in BN and DAP in PH.
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