BN Johor line-up puts a face on Umno power struggle

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: The Barisan Nasional decision to field 70% new candidates in the Johor elections has more to do with a struggle for power in Umno rather than offering voters “fresh faces”, says an analyst.

Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said he believed the move would see “the mainstream faction” in Umno, led by its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former prime minister Najib Razak, consolidating their power in the party.

“I think what’s going on is the gradual surfacing of this internal power struggle between the mainstream faction and those aligned to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob,” he told FMT. “The mainstream faction is trying to make sure that these candidates are people who will remain loyal to them.”

He said BN’s tactics did not really matter in terms of election results as most of the Umno candidates have a high chance of winning given that Johor is a traditional Umno stronghold.

Oh thinks that BN is most likely to win the biggest number of seats because the opposition is divided and will dilute their votes.

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