SEREMBAN (Aug 1): Pakatan Harapan (PH) has conceded defeat in Negeri Sembilan with 11 seats in the state, blaming its failure to retain the state on identity politics played by its opponents.

At a press conderence on Saturday, PH election director Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said voting trends show that identity politics enabled Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) to gain ground in the state, with BN up four seats to 18 and PN up two seats to seven, according to unofficial results.

Identity politics outweighed the strong administrative track record of PH both at the federal and state level, Amirudin posited.

The "abnormal" level of racial-based campaigning could divide the people of this country, he said. 

“Identity politics has dominated a large portion of the campaign, especially in Malay-majority areas; the reaction to that has been the emergence of identity politics in non-Malay areas as well,” Amirudin told the press.  

“But this is a very worrying trend for national politics,” he added.

"This direction does not help in the development of Negeri Sembilan and Malaysia because basic issues like local economy, job opportunities, education, the people's welfare have been neglected throughout the campaign period, especially by the opposition of PH," he said. 

Nonetheless, Amirudin conveyed PH’s appreciation to all Negeri Sembilan voters who fulfilled their responsibility.

Breaking down PH’s lost ground, both DAP and PKR lost three seats each, while the latest unofficial results point to Amanah losing its sole incumbency in the state.

Of these seats, BN wrested four — Chennah (N.01), Pilah (N.18), Labu (N.20) and Repah (N.36). PN’s new ground was Klawang (N.04), Sikamat (N.13) and Ampangan (N.14). PN conceded Labu (N.20) to Umno (BN) under seat negotiations.

In total, DAP won nine seats, while PKR won two. Over at BN, Umno won 16 seats, while MCA won just two seats and MIC lost all seats contested. PN's PAS won four seats, followed by Wawasan, which won three seats in its election debut.

Looking ahead, notably to the next potential stages of the electoral cycle, Amirudin noted PH will attempt to address this trend of identity politics.

“It is very clear there is a dichotomy between non-Malays and Malays in the political trend, and this must be corrected in the future towards politics that unites the people. There is still a path and room for us to correct this,” Amirudin said.

“We still have one year before the general election, and I hope the prime minister and our team can still realign the political message to make sure we go back to the centre of the political message, value, performance, data and service of the government in the future.”

On the next stage of Malaysia’s current electoral cycle, Amirudin said, “Like it or not, we have to be ready for Melaka.”

In Melaka, BN holds 21 of the 28 state seats, followed by PH (five) and PN (two).

The coalition will undertake a post-mortem of the results to examine the issues it faced in this round of polls.

Amirudin noted that PH’s non-Malay support remained “very good”, while it is too early to quantify the swing in Malay votes. However, he noted PH still received a “double-digit” share of Malay votes in Malay-majority constituencies, such as in Linggi (N.32), where caretaker Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun lost by around 700 votes.

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

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