Bread-and-butter issues drove Pakatan Harapan’s defeat in the Negeri Sembilan state election as voters backed the BN-PN alliance, says a political analyst.
PETALING JAYA: Bread-and-butter concerns, from the cost of living to employment opportunities, proved more decisive than national political narratives in Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) crushing defeat in the Negeri Sembilan state election, a political analyst said.
International Islamic University Malaysia political analyst Dr Syaza Shukri said although national issues influenced voter sentiment, dissatisfaction over state governance and everyday economic pressures ultimately drove voters towards the Barisan Nasional (BN)- Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance.
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“Local factors mattered more. Employment closer to home, development and similar issues were more important.
“National issues came into the picture too, but it was really about the governance of the state and people believing BN-PN could do better,“ she told theSun.
The coalition’s strategy paid off, with BN winning 18 seats and PN seven, giving the alliance a commanding 25-seat majority in the 36-seat assembly.
PH was reduced to just 11 seats. Syaza said the outcome was largely in line with expectations.
“The result was expected. We expected PH to get between eight and 14 seats, and BN-PN would take the rest,“ she said.
Under an electoral understanding, BN and PN avoided three-cornered fights, with BN contesting 25 constituencies and PN the remaining 11, while PH fielded candidates in all 36 seats.
The arrangement proved particularly effective in Felda strongholds, where winning margins surged compared with the 2023 state election. In Palong, BN’s majority rose from 564 votes to 13,702.
In Serting, PN increased its majority from 843 to 12,115 votes, while in Gemas, its majority expanded from 3,120 to 12,624 votes.
Bersatu, contesting independently under its own logo in 24 constituencies for the first time, failed to win a single seat.
Syaza said conversations with voters revealed widespread frustration over issues affecting their daily lives.
“When I talked to people in Negeri Sembilan, there was a lot of dissatisfaction and frustration, from employment issues to the cost of living. Even when they admitted that the PH administration was not that bad, they felt more should have been done.
“Because of that, there was this sentiment for change and a chance for BN-PN.”
PH’s losses cut across all three of its component parties, with caretaker Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun among the casualties, while Amanah was wiped out after losing all nine seats it contested. Syaza said voting patterns also differed across communities.
“For the Malays, it’s truly support for BN-PN cooperation. The Malays are happy with this Malay unity narrative and electoral pact.
“For non-Malays, it’s more of a protest against the government, mostly the federal government. It’s just anger generally towards PH.”
She said the result also vindicated BN’s decision to work with PN instead of PH, arguing that the previous BN-PH arrangement had never resonated with voters despite making electoral sense on paper.
“BN-PH never made sense because their support bases and ideological foundations were different, even though on paper it should work.
“BN gets the Malay votes and PH the non-Malay votes,“ she said, adding that governing together had proved more challenging in practice.
She added that BN and PH had collectively won 31 seats in the 2023 state election.
“That’s what I meant when I said it worked. But continuing to justify that partnership to the people is much harder than BN-PN.”
Despite BN’s emphatic victory, Syaza cautioned against reading too much into the result, noting that Negeri Sembilan had long been regarded as a traditional BN stronghold.
“I think BN can be happy, but not too happy.
It shows that people are slowly returning to the coalition, beginning to trust it again and looking to it for better governance.
“But we have to remember Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca have always been BN strongholds. “Can BN replicate this success further north? Whatever the case, kudos to BN for reclaiming Negeri Sembilan from PH.”
She also dismissed suggestions that PN had generated significant momentum of its own.
“I don’t really see momentum when it comes to PN. Their wins have not shown a huge shift in voter support so far.”
She said while PN clearly benefited from its electoral pact with BN, the arrangement had proved particularly effective in Felda constituencies where both BN and PN recorded dramatically higher winning margins compared with 2023.
The results, she added, reflected support for PN as a coalition rather than for Bersatu, which contested separately after being excluded from PN’s seat allocations and failed to win a single seat.
“It also shows that voters support PN, not Bersatu. So that boosts PN’s morale and confidence.
