He cautioned voters against bringing in an unstable government and to support Barisan Nasional (BN) instead.

“I urge all Johoreans to return to the state to support BN’s candidates. Do not split the vote between parties whose hopes of winning are slim,” he said in a live address on Facebook today.

Najib appealed to Johoreans to vote for a competent and stable government with a strong majority capable of formulating and implementing long-term policies to revive the state’s economy.

“Let us not switch from one unstable government to another,” he said, alluding to the possibility that a lack of majority for any one party will put the state back to how it was before the dissolution of the Johor legislative assembly in January.

Najib said that Johor’s economy was once a major attraction to investors and that the March 12 elections could be a turning point and correction for not only the state, but Malaysia as a whole.

“Malaysia needs to get back on track for development. We have great potential but in recent years, we have lacked vision, planning and implementation.”

Johor goes to the polls this Saturday, with the Election Commission saying 2,539,606 voters are eligible to cast their ballots. There have been 21,407 early voters and 36,729 postal voters.

BN and Perikatan Nasional are contesting in all 56 seats while Pakatan Harapan have nominated candidates in 50 seats. Of the remaining parties, Pejuang is contesting in 42 seats, followed by Muda (7), Warisan (6), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (4), Putra (1) and PSM (1).

There are also 16 independent candidates.