KUALA LUMPUR – Barisan Nasional (BN) has secured more than 40 seats in the Johor state election based on unofficial results, according to Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Zahid said the coalition would focus on fulfilling its election pledges and ensuring their implementation after receiving the mandate from voters.
“BN to deliver and monitor implementation of Johor polls manifesto,” he said.
Meanwhile, Umno secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said BN had obtained a simple majority in the 56-seat Johor Legislative Assembly.
BN Johor chairman Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi also expressed appreciation to voters for the support given to 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 of its 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 a significant vote margin in several constituencies, making it difficult for its rivals to overturn the results.
The coalition had won 40 of the 56 seats in the previous Johor state election in 2022, giving it a two-thirds majority in the state assembly. The 2022 results saw BN comprising 33 Umno seats, four MCA seats and three MIC seats, while Pakatan Harapan (PH) secured 12 seats, Perikatan Nasional (PN) three seats and MUDA one seat.
The latest election saw BN and PH contesting against each other despite both parties being partners in the federal unity government, creating a different dynamic on the ground across Johor’s constituencies.
More than 2.7 million registered voters were eligible to cast their ballots across all 56 state seats, with most constituencies seeing multi-cornered contests.
Ballot boxes from several polling centres began arriving at vote-tallying centres this evening following the closure of all 1,076 polling centres statewide at 6pm.
As of 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.
Two postal ballot boxes for the Perling constituency were also delivered to the vote-tallying centre at Dewan Jubli Intan, Johor Bahru at 6.38pm.
Meanwhile, two postal ballot boxes for the Kempas constituency arrived at Dewan Cahaya TNB Kempas at 6.47pm, escorted by Election Commission (EC) personnel.
The EC said 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 voter turnout was recorded in Bekok at 58.9%, followed by Stulang at 60.5% and Perling at 60.6%.
For comparison, voter turnout at the same stage during the 15th Johor state election was 53.13%, involving 1,367,909 out of more than 2.57 million registered voters.
Three state seats were among the earliest declared victories for BN based on unofficial results shared through the EC’s Facebook live broadcast, despite the counting process still ongoing.
The seats were Machap, Sedili and Kukup, where BN candidates secured winning margins that were considered insurmountable based on the remaining votes to be counted.
In Machap, BN’s candidate defeated the PH challenger, while Muszaidee Makmor retained Sedili in a three-cornered contest involving PH and PN candidates.
At Kukup, Mohd Israk Abdullah of Umno retained the seat previously held by Datuk Jefridin Atan in the last state election. – July 11, 2026