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Results showed that the party had won in none of the 42 seats it had contested.
James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute said Pejuang’s failure lay in that “it is basically a Mahathir fan club”, adding that the party would not be taken seriously any more.
“This also means that Mahathir has lost his influence among Malay voters” and this would shatter the party’s hopes of gaining power at the federal government at the next general election.
Mahathir unveiled his new political party in August 2020 after leaving Bersatu earlier in the year.
Commenting on the performance of Sabah-based Warisan, which made its debut at a peninsular election, Chin said that the party knew it would not win any seat in Johor.
“They were just there to fly their flag and demonstrate that Malayan political parties are not multiracial any more,” he said.
Chin said “bad leadership and problems within the party” would make it difficult for Warisan to make an impact. “But they will still try.”
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