PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional will likely team up to fight Perikatan Nasional in the six state elections slated for next year.

Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research (NASR) senior fellow Prof Dr. Azmi Hassan said BN would likely give way to PH in Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

“As for Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, BN should be a better party to fight PN.”

He told The Star that PH and BN leaders must work together or PN would emerge as the ultimate winner.

He also said Padang Serai and Tioman were too small to reflect the voters’ acceptance of a PH-BN pact.

Prof Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) said the Padang Serai parliamentary election outcome would likely determine whether the PH-BN pact was accepted by semi-urban and rural voters.

“But I doubt the same applies to the Tioman state seat,” he said, adding that it was unfair to draw a conclusion based on the two elections.

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) administrative science and policy studies lecturer Mujibu Abd Muis said there was no official announcement on the PH-BN pact and their current cooperation in the Padang Serai and Tioman elections was based on a “gentleman’s agreement.”

He also said their continued cooperation was subject to the Umno polls early next year.

He nevertheless asserted that the PH-BN cooperation was easier compared with any cooperation between BN and PN, given the fact they both were going after the same vote bank.