IPOH, Feb 1 – Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir (pic) is confident Umno can take 34 seats in the next elections but said he won’t dissolve the state legislature until the next general elections. The Perak Mentri Besar declared he won’t play into Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) game to call for snap polls and instead challenged them to quit their 28 state seats to prove their popularity.

“Yes, I am confident... but mind you, I am also working independently with other groups to seek people’s opinion,”

Zambry told The Malaysian Insider when asked about Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi’s prediction for the next general elections. The Pangkor assemblyman will know next Feb 9 if he remains mentri besar when the Federal Court decides the legality of his appointment after his Barisan Nasional coalition (BN) toppled the PR government last Feb 5. PR Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Mohd Jamaluddin’s government collapsed when Jamaluddin and another PKR colleague joined a DAP lawmaker turn independent to support the BN to control 31 seats in the 59-seat state assembly.

“It is simple. If you think that the BN is scared because we do not have the people’s support, alright we won’t dissolve but I want to see that since you say that you have the people’s support, you go and resign your 28 seats,” Zambry said.

When pointed that, under election laws, the 28 cannot recontest their seats if they resign, the mentri besar said the elections was to test their parties’ popularity, not their own. However, he stressed that there is no question of dissolving the legislature until BN chief and prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak makes the decision.

Jamaluddin told The Malaysian Insider last week PAS and PKR will find it difficult to retain some of its 13 Perak state seats in the next general elections as long as Umno's resurgence is sustained He said if Umno just “works hard”, he expects the two PR parties to be able to retain just half the seats they won in Election 2008.

He pointed out, however, that he expects DAP, PKR and PAS's partner in PR, to win back all of its 18 seats. Umno won 27 of the 34 seats it contested in Election 2008 while its BN partner MCA took one seat, resulting in the coalition winning just 28, three short of what was needed for a simple majority in the Perak legislature. The rest of the BN parties were badly beaten. A full interview with Zambry will appear in The Malaysian Insider on Feb 6, a year after the Perak palace named him the state’s 12th mentri besar.