The Islamic party contested 15 seats under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) banner, but unofficial results indicate PAS managed to wrest the Maharani seat from Amanah.

It lost the Bukit Pasir seat to Umno. It was the only seat PAS won in the last general election when it contested on its own.

Prior to this, PAS had high hopes of wresting seats from Amanah with Bersatu’s help, as well as challenging PKR and Umno in their seats.

But most of their candidates lost to Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates, indicating the party cannot pose a challenge outside of its base in the east coast.

The Johor elections saw PAS leaders renew hostilities with their Umno counterparts, attacking BN’s top leaders, including Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib Razak, who are part of the so-called “court cluster”, the group of Umno leaders facing trial for corruption and abuse of power.

However, just like in Melaka, PAS’ campaign failed to garner support despite its top leaders, including Abdul Hadi Awang, going down to the ground to campaign with PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin.

Now, questions will be asked as to whether PAS will seek a return to Umno through the Muafakat Nasional pact or continue with Bersatu in PN.

Already, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the Muafakat Nasional issue would be discussed after the Johor elections.

Whatever their decision, BN’s big win in Johor means Umno can dictate the terms for cooperation, including that PAS cut ties with Bersatu.