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Every candidate fielded by BERSAMA in the Johor state election lost their deposit on Saturday (11 July), the party’s president, Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli, confirmed in a statement posted on social media.
BERSAMA, which was founded just 52 days before polling day, contested 15 seats in the election.
None of its candidates secured the minimum 12.5% of votes required to retain their deposit under Malaysian electoral rules.
For a state election (Dewan Undangan Negeri – DUN), the mandatory candidate deposit is RM5,000.
Rafizi said preliminary data from polling agents showed BERSAMA candidates averaged between 3% and 6% of votes across the seats they contested.
“Early analysis shows there was a significant shift of votes toward BN from all segments of voters, across age groups and ethnicities,” he wrote, noting the swing affected all opposition parties, not just BERSAMA.
Short of Target, But BERSAMA Vows to Press On
Rafizi posted the statement before official results had been announced for all seats, saying the party had obtained partial tallies through official polling agent forms known as Borang 14.
He acknowledged the results fell short of the party’s own target of 15% — the threshold BERSAMA had set internally to avoid losing deposits.
Despite the outcome, the former PKR deputy president struck a measured tone.
He thanked voters, candidates, members and volunteers, and said a small appreciation event would be held at BERSAMA’s new headquarters within two weeks once the premises are ready.
Although the Johor election results did not favour BERSAMA, the experience of running a campaign will help build a party that is only 52 days old.
At least one good thing came out of Bersama’s Johor outing; they adopted a stray cat.
Reform Vote Never Came — Not Even In The Cities
The urban seats didn’t help.
BERSAMA deliberately contested in Johor Bahru urban constituencies — Permas, Tiram, Kota Iskandar — presumably hoping for a reform-minded urban vote.
It didn’t materialise.
Even in those high-turnout seats, BERSAMA polled below 5%.
Bukit Naning (138 votes, 0.8%) is the outlier — a near-invisible performance that suggests the candidate had virtually no ground presence in a constituency which BN retained with an increased majority.
Political analyst James Chin says BERSAMA’s strong social media presence was a mirage — a vocal minority of online supporters masked the party’s failure to win over actual voters, and it must rethink its strategy before the next state elections in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.
| Seat | BERSAMA Candidate | Votes | Total Votes Cast | % Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N14 Bukit Naning | Iskandar Md Alias | 138 | 17,354 | 0.8% |
| N29 Mahkota | Abd Hamid Ali | 1,546 | 45,697 | 3.4% |
| N40 Tiram | Dr Harith Fakhrudin | 2,229 | 83,129 | 2.7% |
| N41 Puteri Wangsa | Nicholas Paul Vincent | 2,332 | 86,344 | 2.7% |
| N42 Johor Jaya | Lau Yi Leong | 2,051 | 66,920 | 3.1% |
| N43 Permas | Dr Zamil Najwah | 3,147 | 79,162 | 4.0% |
| N44 Larkin | Norsinah Abu | 2,737 | 50,219 | 5.5% |
| N45 Stulang | Stanley Tan Boon Heng | 1,372 | 37,107 | 3.7% |
| N46 Perling | Boo Wei Han | 2,996 | 68,321 | 4.4% |
| N47 Kempas | Salamahafifi | 1,817 | 43,156 | 4.2% |
| N48 Skudai | Eugene Chua | 2,471 | 67,663 | 3.7% |
| N49 Kota Iskandar | Sahrudin Omar | 2,691 | 90,518 | 3.0% |
| N50 Bukit Permai | Muhammad Aidil | 792 | 32,552 | 2.4% |
| N51 Bukit Batu | G. Tamili | 821 | 35,431 | 2.3% |
| N52 Senai | Tew Chian How | 1,676 | 46,095 | 3.6% |
From 40 to 48 Seats: How BN Tightened Its Grip on Johor
Barisan Nasional (BN) won the Johor state election in a landslide, retaining control of the state government.
The Umno-led coalition won 48 of 56 seats — up from 40 in 2022 — crossing the 38-seat mark needed for a two-thirds supermajority in the state legislature.
MCA, the Chinese-majority party within BN, won 8 seats, including several long held by DAP — among them Tangkak, Jementah, and Johor Jaya.
MIC won all 4 seats it contested, including Perling, which had previously been a DAP stronghold.
PKR’s sole winner in Johor was former Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik, who held Puteri Wangsa with 41,821 votes in a five-cornered fight, beating BN-MCA by a majority of 5,744.
Perikatan Nasional (PN) completely collapsed, losing all 3 seats it previously held, while the youth-centric MUDA were also completely wiped out, with many candidates losing their election deposits.
READ MORE: [Watch] Shorts Too Short: Mother And Daughter Nearly Blocked From Voting In Johor
READ MORE: High Turnout, Wrong Address: Johor’s Complicated Election Day
READ MORE: Former DAP Analyst Sees BN Sweeping Johor, He Also Sees What Comes Next
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BERSAMA Loses Every Deposit In Johor — Rafizi Calls It A Learning Curve
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