JOHOR BAHRU (July 11): Pakatan Harapan (PH) has conceded defeat in the Johor state election, pledging to serve as a constructive opposition after securing eight seats out of 56 in what it described as a highly challenging contest.

PH election director Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari told a press conference on Saturday that the outcome reflected the choice of Johor voters and should be respected in line with democratic principles.

Amirudin assured that PH's elected representatives would use the state assembly to champion the people's concerns, particularly bread-and-butter issues.

"PH representatives will carry out their responsibilities as the opposition by closely scrutinising the state government's policies and administration to ensure development and the quality of public services benefit all segments of Johor's multiracial society, rather than only selected districts or constituencies," he said.

He added that this election setback would not deter the coalition from deepening its grassroots engagement as it prepares for the upcoming Negeri Sembilan state election and the next general election.

At press time, the unofficial tally showed PH securing eight seats in the Johor polls; six of them by DAP — Stulang (N.45), Bentayan (N.12), Penggaram (N.23), Mengkibol (N.28), Senai (N.52) and Skudai (N.48) — while PKR and Amanah each took home one seat, namely Puteri Wangsa (N.41) and Simpang Jeram (N.13) respectively.

Notably, it ceded four previously held seats to Barisan Nasional (BN): Johor Jaya (N.42), Bukit Batu (N.51), Tangkak (N.10) and Jementah (N.02).

Meanwhile, Amirudin also said it was too early to draw conclusions about PH's electoral performance and rejected claims that the coalition had lost its traditional support base: non-Malay voters.

He argued that the election results should be assessed based on actual vote numbers rather than perception.

"We need to look at the real numbers and the real results. We cannot simply blame non-Malay voters as a whole," he said.

Amirudin said PH's support base remained intact, with the coalition securing about 500,000 votes in the state election, up from an estimated 400,000 votes it garnered in the previous state polls.

As part of its post-election post-mortem, Amirudin said PH would also examine factors including whether votes previously aligned with Perikatan Nasional (PN) had transferred to BN. "We need to look at this issue and restrategise our approach," he said.

Despite the loss, Amirudin said PH remained optimistic about its prospects in the next general election.

"We still have about a year before the next general election, and many things can happen. Just look at the last Johor state election and the general election — they were only about eight months apart, yet the political landscape changed completely," he said.

"Our war room and election machinery will identify where we fell short, understand the issues that matter most to voters, and recalibrate our strategy and approach ahead of the next election," he added.

Find out all you need to know about the 2026 Johor election here.