Kedah PAS doubles seats, state assembly possibly hung

ALOR STAR: Following the outcome of the 14th General Election (GE14), it is clear that Kedahans see the Islamist party as a significant player in the state's political arena.
Kedah PAS commissioner Dr Ahmad Fakhruddin Sheikh Fakhrurazi said the party even managed to double its seats in the Kedah state assembly, despite pundits predicting that the party would perform poorly in the election.
"The results show that the people in Kedah want us. In fact our seats increased tremendously," he said when contacted by theSun.
Ahmad Fakhruddin however said there is still no decision on how the party is going to respond with the situation in Kedah, where the results appear to suggest a hung state assembly.
"We are still waiting for a decision from the central leadership," he said.
PAS won 15 state seats, while Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 18 seats and Barisan Nasional (BN) won a mere three seats.
In order to form a state government, a party has to secure 19 seats to earn a simple majority in the government.
If PAS and BN decide to join hands, there will still be a hung assembly, as both sides would have 18 seats each.
Pakatan on the other hand, only needs one representative from either PAS or BN to jump ship so that the new ruling coalition would be able to form the state government.
It is learnt that PH is now reaching out to three BN backbenchers in a bid to do just that.
Veteran political analyst Ramli Yusoff said that BN only has themselves to blame for its poor performance.
He said both Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir played a significant role in helping BN wrest the state from PAS in 2013, but BN's "civil war" in 2014 saw the coalition losing their trump card in the state.
"Now they are paying the price. Kedahans are like many other states, also a parochial lot. They do not take it kindly if one of their own was mistreated and ridiculed."