KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — Barisan Nasional will retain control of the Perak state government after the November 19 polls, Umno’s Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said today.

But the former Padang Rengas MP told news portal Malaysiakini that the BN coalition is likely to lose more federal seats this time around, predicting it will take only eight out of 24 parliamentary constituencies in the concurrent elections compared to the 11 it won in 2018.

He claimed Perak voters have a good impression of the immediate past mentri besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad, which will help the BN secure enough votes to form the state government again.

“I’m confident that with Saarani as our ‘poster boy’ at the state level, we can form a state government in Perak.

“As for Parliament, I’m only confident of winning eight seats… Perhaps we may need to form an alliance with other BN-friendly parties,” Nazri was quoted as saying.

The Umno veteran told the news portal that his party is suffering repercussions from fielding the national leadership’s choices in Gerik and Pasir Salak.

“He’s not even from Perak. This will be a problem because we normally want a local candidate,” Nazri was quoted as saying of Kelantan-born Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, the Umno Youth chief who is the BN’s candidate for Gerik.

Nazri said the choice of Pasir Salak Umno division deputy chairman Khairul Azwan Harun to replace local bigwig Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman could also cost BN the seat as the grassroots were unhappy.

“We know the candidate is local, but there is unhappiness… While I believe that people will vote for BN, I consider Pasir Salak now a ‘grey seat’ instead of ‘white’,” Nazri told Malaysiakini.

BN typically has three colours as codes to mark their strength in an area. White denotes an easy win for the coalition while black means not in its favour. Grey signals a swing seat.