“It’s clear that holding both (the state elections and the general election) would produce the necessary momentum to achieve the maximum voter turnout,” Nurul Izzah said in an Instagram post today.

The Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan state governments had decided not to dissolve their state assemblies earlier for elections to be held with GE15, citing possible floods.

The voter turnout for Saturday’s state elections was lower compared with 74.4% during GE15.

Nurul Izzah acknowledged that Perikatan Nasional, particularly PAS, had managed to win the support of youngsters, especially in Penang.

The former Permatang Pauh MP said government agencies needed to buck up in their communication strategies to ensure that people were aware about the unity government’s initiatives, policies and successes.

“Don’t forget, we will go to battle again soon, so our efforts to listen to the heartbeat of the rakyat and to win them over must go on,” she said.

The Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional unity coalition managed to retain Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang at the polls, though Perikatan Nasional made some inroads in these states.

Meanwhile, PN made a clean sweep of Terengganu and was close to doing the same in Kedah and Kelantan.