We are all stakeholders of this country, and must therefore with the ballots in our hands pick the most capable, morally respectable, honest and high-caliber individuals who embrace national unity, to run the country on our behalf.

The six state elections are a decisive battle for the unity government, and the PN coalition has already portrayed the elections as a vote of confidence for the unity government.

Indeed the elections can also be a litmus test for the so-called “green wave,” whether the heat picking up in last November’s general election can be extended.

At the same time, the elections will also confirm whether BN will be revived and its supporters back into the fold.

There are a few probable scenarios for the six state elections. The most likely scenario is that both rival camps will win three states each (Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang for the unity government; and Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu for PN). This will mean that the unity government is not facing any imminent risk of collapse, while the “green wave” is still very much alive.

The second scenario is that the number of popular votes for PH+BN in these six states is less than half of the total.

Based on the total number of voters announced by the election commission last August at 9,773,580, and assuming a 75% voter turnout that gives the total number of ballots cast at 7.33 million, this will mean 3.67 million votes, which is actually quite a low benchmark.

If unfortunately the PH+BN combo does not resonate well with the electorate, their political stature will naturally come under question.

The third scenario is that PN still wins three states, but manages to garner more than half of all the votes. This will give the coalition a much needed boost, which will ready them to take over Putrajaya if they happen to win the support of East Malaysian parties.

The meteoric rise of PN and PAS within a very short period of time is phenomenal. The coalition has managed to emerge a powerful political force in the country thanks to the disunity within its main rival, BN.

For politicians, the ultimate political manipulation is when parties come together in a swap of interests, while the most destructive situation is when they split because of inequitable distribution of interests.

We all know that PH shouldn’t have teamed up with Umno in the first place, but in order to form a government, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had no choice but to exchange deals with BN.

As a matter of fact, parties in the alliance must stay united in order to get their respective share of government posts, so that Anwar gets to advance his aspiration to serve the country and her people.

For the sake of the country, he has to make some sacrifices, and indeed this goes well with His Majesty the King’s edict, too.

That said, Umno is still shaky internally, and the image of corruption is giving the public a rather negative perception, while time is not on the party’s side to stage a meaningful rebound.

If Umno still remains divided and is reluctant to implement the essential reforms, even as Malay votes are pouring towards the PN, its days are literally numbered!

As for PN’s Bersatu and PAS, if they keep stressing theocracy and racism, they actually have good chances to take over the federal administration four years down the road.

Before the 15th general election, no one would have expected Umno to be dumped by the Malay voters so quickly, so much so that the party could only secure an embarrassing fifth position in overall ranking with 26 seats, well behind PAS (43), DAP (40), PKR and Bersatu (31 each).

There are good reasons for such an eventuality. There was already a serious crack within Umno before the election, with dissident incumbents dropped from the president’s election line-up. The party learned a hard lesson due to disunity.

Such a dilemma does not seem to happen within Bersatu-PAS, at least not noticeably.

So whom should we vote in the coming state elections? Simply put, we are all stakeholders of this country, and must therefore with the ballots in our hands pick the most capable, morally respectable, honest and high-caliber individuals who embrace national unity — to run the country on our behalf.

As such, reject those who uphold theocracy and racism, who won’t mind dividing the country to maximize their own gains, who despise democratic values, are dishonest, greedy, corrupt and lack sound policies in running the country as well as farsightedness.