Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin affirmed that Bersatu will remain a component party of the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition amid tensions with PAS. He said, "We will remain in Perikatan. We helped build this coalition and have been part of its growth from the beginning" [1]. Muhyiddin also emphasized, "Red is us, blue is our home. We will remain in PN forever" as the party prepares for upcoming state elections [2].
PAS announced on June 8 that it had ended political cooperation with Bersatu over policy, religious, and public interest considerations but stated it would remain within PN [3, 4]. PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man stressed that PN "is not owned by Bersatu. It belongs to all registered member parties, namely Pas, Gerakan and Malaysian Indian People's Party (MIPP). Bersatu should not feel that PN belongs to them alone" [3].
Muhyiddin countered suggestions that Bersatu should leave PN, pointing to its founding role and contributions since PN’s formation in 2020 [1, 5, 2, 3]. He reiterated on June 22 that removing a component party requires consensus within PN's Presidential Council, and cannot be done unilaterally [4].
Bersatu plans to contest the upcoming Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections, either using the PN logo or its own if the coalition logo is not granted [1, 2, 3]. PN’s component parties resolved seat allocations on June 23 for the 56 seats in the Johor election, agreeing on distribution including 34 overlapping seats; Bersatu will contest the largest number of seats [6, 7, 8, 9].
Candidates running under PN in Johor will use the coalition's logo, subject to official authorization by the coalition or relevant party, as the Election Commission clarified only one logo authorization per seat is valid [3, 6, 7, 8, 10]. The recent addition of Parti Wawasan Negara to PN did not result in any seat allocations due to their late entry [11].
Bersatu vice-president Ahmad Faizal Azumu criticized PAS’s termination of cooperation but affirmed ongoing collaboration within PN, stating, "We work together. InsyaAllah, we will work together towards success" [12, 3, 8]. PN held an emergency meeting on June 22 to approve new members but did not address Bersatu's coalition status [9].
With election preparations underway, Bersatu has launched its campaign machinery in Johor and will contest the state and Negeri Sembilan elections in the coming weeks using coalition branding pending approval [1, 2, 4].
