KUALA LUMPUR — Pakatan Harapan (PH) elections director Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari will lead talks with Barisan Nasional (BN) on possible collaboration, including seat allocations, for the Melaka state election, said PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Amirudin, who is also Selangor Menteri Besar, has been given the mandate to work out a plan for cooperation with BN, Anwar told reporters today.
“We have entrusted Amirudin to detail (the matter),” Anwar said after attending the National Level Maulidur Rasul Celebration for the Year 1448/2026 in Serdang today.
Anwar was asked about PH communications director Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil’s recent remarks that Amirudin had met with Anwar last Sunday about potential collaboration with BN for the Melaka state election.
However, Anwar today said his meeting with Amirudin was about the Malaysia Games (SUKMA), and not about political topics.
“I met the Selangor Menteri Besar (to talk) about SUKMA. When it’s sports time, there’s no time (for) politics,” he said.
The main political coalitions have yet to confirm who each of them will cooperate with for the Melaka polls.
Perikatan Nasional is open to cooperating with BN again, as it did in the recent Johor and Negeri Sembilan elections with victorious results for BN.
But for Melaka, BN figures have said the matter is still being studied at the grassroots level and will be discussed at the Umno Supreme Council meeting this Friday.
Ultimately, the decision must the choice of the Melaka BN leadership, coalition chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said recently.
There is pressure, though, for BN to choose PN as its partner for the Melaka election, with Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh recently signalling a preference for cooperation with PN rather than PH.
BN component party MCA also appears to prefer PN, with MCA secretary-general Datuk Chong Sin Woon telling New Straits Times today that MCA is adamant it will not cooperate with DAP in any upcoming election, including Melaka.
In the 2021 state election, BN won 21 out of 28 seats in the Melaka assembly, Pakatan Harapan won five and PN won two. – August 25, 2026