Its deputy chairman, Dzulkefly Ahmad, said this is regardless of whether PH works with BN or not at the polls, adding that Johor Amanah would particularly focus on retaining its existing Simpang Jeram seat.

In the 2022 state polls, Amanah fielded candidates in 16 seats but only won one. The late Salahuddin Ayub successfully defended the Simpang Jeram state seat which he won in the 14th general election in May 2018. Amanah’s Nazri Abdul Rahman won the by-election in September last year following Salahuddin’s death.

Dzulkefly said that he could not dismiss the possibility of a three-cornered contest in the next state election, between PH, BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN).

“We will present this decision to the Amanah top leadership as well as the PH leadership, at both the state and national level.

“This step follows our disagreement with the Johor BN’s decision not to form a unity government in the state despite (cooperation from PH in) the recent Mahkota by-election which BN won.

“We reiterate that Johor Amanah’s decision is due to the absence of direct negotiations concerning the formation of a unity government with BN (in the state),” he said in a statement.

The Johor government was formed by BN following its landslide win in the March 2022 state election. The coalition holds 40 seats in the 56-seat state assembly. PH has 12 seats, while PN has four.

However, despite support from the 12 PH assemblymen, the state government remains solely under the control of BN .

Johor Amanah has repeatedly called for a unity government to be formed in the state but this had been rejected by menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

Last month, DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook urged his PH allies to stop making calls for Johor to have a unity government similar to other states.