Bersatu's fortunes rest on MPs who left rival parties

Challenge will be to retain lion's share of seats won by MPs under different banners

- Shannon Teoh

It won just 13 seats in the watershed 2018 polls which saw Umno lose power for the first time in Malaysia's six-decade history, but since then Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia has managed to lead a government, topple it by defecting, and form another government, all in the space of just 22 months.

This was due to waves of defecting MPs that joined it from rival parties Umno and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), nearly tripling its representation in Parliament.

Bersatu's main challenge at Saturday's vote will thus be to retain the lion's share of seats won by its MPs in the 2018 polls under different banners. Overcoming that hurdle will in turn depend on whether voters prize party loyalty over their lawmakers' performance. Bersatu has 28 incumbent MPs in its stable, but only six of these won their seats flying the party flag.

Between May 2018 and March 2020, the party led the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, then triggered its collapse by defecting to join hands with rivals Umno and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), with Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin helming the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition government that they formed.