Malaysia’s BN to announce candidates for Melaka polls on Oct 28: State chairman

MELAKA: Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition will announce its candidates for the upcoming Melaka state election on Oct 28, according to the state chairman. Ab Rauf Yusoh, who is also Melaka’s caretaker chief minister, said the candidates would carry the responsibility of continuing the coalition’s mandate and securing victory at the polls.The announcement was made at the launch of BN’s election machinery for the Tangga Batu parliamentary constituency in Sungai Udang on Saturday (Oct 17).On Friday, Ab Rauf said BN’s election preparations had entered their final stage, including negotiations with other parties to finalise electoral cooperation and seat allocations."The outcome will be made known following the final round of negotiations, which will take place soon," he said, as quoted by local media platform, The Star.Polling for the Melaka state election is scheduled for Nov 14, with nomination day on Oct 31 and early voting on Nov 10.Nearly 700,000 voters in Melaka are set to cast their ballots in the state polls.Ab Rauf had announced the official dissolution of the state legislative assembly on Sep 23, paving the way for an election that was otherwise due by February 2027.Before the dissolution, the state government was led by BN, which won 21 of the 28 seats in the 2021 state election, while Pakatan Harapan (PH) secured five seats and Perikatan Nasional (PN) claimed two seats. PH joined the state government in 2023 when Ab Rauf became chief minister and reshuffled the executive council to reflect the PH-BN partnership at the federal level following the 2022 general election that had resulted in a hung parliament. PH however withdrew its support for the state government in July in protest against a constitutional amendment allowing for the appointment of nominated assemblymen. The upcoming polls in Melaka come just months after BN’s landslide victories in theNegeri Sembilan andJohor state elections. It won 25 of 36 seats in Negeri Sembilan on Aug 1 as part of a pact with the opposition PN, and 48 of 56 seats in the Johor state election in July where it had contested solo.