BN chairman Zahid sows seeds for pact with PM Anwar at next GE

Move comes as party struggles to bolster ethnic majority backing for unity govt

- Shannon Teoh

Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi said Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) will continue their arrangement of not competing against each other at the next general election - a move that gives breathing space to a government facing myriad challenges.

While cementing their alliance, the BN chairman appeared to rule out the possibility of his Umno-led coalition merging with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's PH when he said it would run under its own flag at Malaysia's 16th General Election (GE16) due by early 2028.

"The BN and PH partnership and cooperation will continue as long as they (PH) do not contest in constituencies where BN fields its candidate, and we do not contest in their areas," Datuk Seri Zahid said on June 30 at an Umno division meeting in Maran, Pahang.

BN secretary-general Zambry Kadir told The Straits Times on July 1 that while the electoral pact had been discussed by his coalition's leadership, a final decision has yet to be made on chairman Zahid's proposal.

"We have not closed any possibility," he said, when asked if PH and BN could consider using the same logo, pointing to a grand coalition that would subsume all current ruling parties, save regional ones based in Sabah and Sarawak.