KUALA LUMPUR – Barisan Nasional (BN) has pledged to fulfil its campaign promises following its victory in the Johor state election, with coalition chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi thanking voters and party machinery for securing the mandate.
Zahid said BN would focus on delivering its manifesto commitments and ensuring the promises made during the campaign were implemented under the leadership of Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.
Speaking at a press conference, the Umno president expressed appreciation to voters, BN machinery, component parties, volunteers, non-governmental organisations and individuals who contributed to the coalition’s victory.
“Thank you to all voters in Johor, to the Barisan Nasional machinery, the machinery from component parties and also friends of BN. The machinery from across the country who camped in Johor, volunteers, NGOs, and individuals who helped, we express our gratitude for this success,” he said.
Zahid described the victory as both an official and personal achievement for Onn Hafiz, attributing it to what he called an efficient state administration that had delivered progress and success over the past four years, five months and nine days.
“This success is the official and personal success of Datuk Onn Hafiz.
“And of course, it is underpinned by an efficient administration for Johor with progress and success, where this is the best record shown by Barisan Nasional over four years, five months and nine days,” he said.
He said BN would remain humble following the win and was committed to improving the state administration during the new term.
“With this success, we do not boast, we are aware and we are humble. Through Datuk Onn Hafiz and the government formed with the consent of Their Royal Highnesses, we promise that the administration for this term will be carried out better and all promises, God willing, will be fully fulfilled,” he said.
Based on unofficial results, BN has secured more than 40 seats in the 56-seat Johor Legislative Assembly, according to Zahid.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki also said BN had obtained a simple majority in the state assembly.
Meanwhile, Onn Hafiz thanked Johor voters for placing their trust in the coalition.
“BN Johor records its appreciation to all Johor people for the mandate and trust given,” he said.
Unofficial tallies showed BN maintaining a strong lead in several traditional strongholds, including Machap, Benut, Tanjung Surat, Sri Medan, Tenggaroh, Pasir Raja, Kahang, Endau, Penawar, Johor Lama, Maharani and Sedili.
With only a small number of polling streams left to be counted, BN continued to hold significant vote margins in several constituencies, making it difficult for its challengers to overturn the results.
In the 2022 Johor state election, BN won 40 of the 56 seats, securing a two-thirds majority in the state assembly. The victory comprised 33 Umno seats, four MCA seats and three MIC seats, while PH won 12 seats, Perikatan Nasional (PN) three seats and MUDA one seat.
This election saw BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH) competing against each other despite both being partners in the federal unity government, creating a different political landscape across Johor.
More than 2.7 million registered voters were eligible to cast their ballots across all 56 state constituencies, with most seats seeing multi-cornered contests.
Ballot boxes from polling centres began arriving at vote-tallying centres after all 1,076 polling centres statewide closed at 6pm.
The first three ballot boxes from Pulau Sibu, Pulau Besar and Pulau Pemanggil for the Tenggaroh constituency arrived at the vote-tallying centre at Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim, Mersing, shortly after polling ended.
Two postal ballot boxes for Perling were delivered to the vote-tallying centre at Dewan Jubli Intan, Johor Bahru, at 6.38pm, while two postal ballot boxes for Kempas arrived at Dewan Cahaya TNB Kempas at 6.47pm under the escort of Election Commission (EC) personnel.
The EC reported that 67.44% or 1,809,185 of more than 2.6 million registered voters had cast their ballots as of 5pm.
According to an EC Facebook post, Sri Medan recorded the highest voter turnout at 77.2%, followed by Semarang at 76.8% and Sedili at 74.3%.
The lowest turnout was recorded in Bekok at 58.9%, followed by Stulang at 60.5% and Perling at 60.6%.
At the same stage during the 15th Johor state election, turnout stood at 53.13%, involving 1,367,909 out of more than 2.57 million registered voters.
Three seats were among the earliest declared victories for BN based on unofficial results shared during the EC’s Facebook live broadcast, despite vote counting still being underway.
The seats were Machap, Sedili and Kukup, where BN candidates secured winning margins considered difficult to overcome based on the remaining votes.
In Machap, BN’s candidate defeated the PH challenger, while Muszaidee Makmor retained Sedili in a three-cornered contest involving PH and PN candidates.
In Kukup, Umno’s Mohd Israk Abdullah retained the seat previously held by Datuk Jefridin Atan in the previous state election. – June 11, 2026