Malaysia’s Melaka state began its election campaign on Saturday after 79 candidates were cleared to contest a poll testing whether Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s governing partners can turn an opportunistic alliance with his Islamist opponents into a platform for national power.

The coastal state south of Kuala Lumpur heads to the polls on November 14, handing the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) another opening to deepen cooperation after Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) suffered state defeats in Johor and Negeri Sembilan.

Election Commission chairman Ramlan Harun said all nomination papers were accepted, setting up 11 straight fights, 11 three-cornered contests and six four-way races across the 28-seat state legislative assembly.

A total of 687,697 voters are eligible to cast ballots, with early voting taking place on November 10.

The Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is contesting 23 seats under an arrangement that leaves five seats to PAS and its allies in Perikatan Nasional (PN). Meanwhile, PH is fielding 24 candidates, Bersama 16, Bersatu seven and Putra one, alongside three independents. Bersama is led by former cabinet ministers Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

BN won 21 seats in Melaka’s previous election in 2021, compared with PH’s five and PN’s two. A party or coalition needs 15 seats to secure a majority.

Anwar brought PH and BN into a unity government after the 2022 general election produced a hung parliament. But the federal partners now find themselves opposed in state contests ahead of national polls due by early 2028.

Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, whose party belongs to PH, conceded on Saturday that competing claims over the government’s achievements were confusing the electorate.

“People are somewhat confused because Barisan is in the government, and PH is also in the government,” he told local reporters in Bukit Katil.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang indicated that the party’s partnership with BN could stretch far beyond Melaka, telling reporters: “What is important is that our cooperation brings victory.”Asked whether the pact could extend to national politics, Hadi replied, “God willing, at the federal level as well,” English-language daily The Star reported.

Umno has instructed grass-roots campaign workers to support PN candidates, backing a shared manifesto and joint election machinery, party secretary general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said following a supreme council meeting on Wednesday night.

The deal follows BN’s capture of 48 of Johor’s 56 seats in July and the BN-PN partnership’s victory in 25 of Negeri Sembilan’s 36 seats in August, which ousted PH from the state government.

Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, a political analyst at Universiti Utara Malaysia, said the campaign would test whether BN and PAS could sustain a national partnership.

“The Melaka election will become the testing ground for togetherness, particularly during campaigning,” he said. “If BN plus PAS win big and show they can work together very well, this will translate into a new political alliance in the [general election].”But University of Malaya political analyst Awang Azman Awang Pawi warned that “an agreement between party leaders does not automatically translate into loyalty at the grass roots level”.

Long-standing rivalries and resentment over prospective candidates bypassed in seat negotiations could undermine cooperation in marginal constituencies, he said.

“Ultimately, the greatest threat to cooperation may not be outright rebellion but passive resistance, where grass roots members publicly accept the arrangement but fail to mobilise effectively.”Caretaker chief minister Ab Rauf Yusoh faces PH’s Mohd Yunazri Mustamiri in a straight fight in Tanjung Bidara – a seat Rauf won by 364 votes in 2021.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Umno’s president, accompanied Rauf to file his nomination and backed him to remain chief minister if BN retained power.

“I, as Barisan chairman, will propose that Datuk Seri Rauf continues as Melaka Chief Minister, God willing,” Zahid said.

PH state leader Adly Zahari faces three challengers in Bukit Katil, including PAS candidate Muhammad Ridzuan Mohd Sharif, Bersama’s Aliza Che Amran and independent candidate Abu Bakar Sabudin.

Awang Azman said negotiations over parliamentary seats – particularly concessions to Umno inside PAS strongholds – would provide far more convincing proof of a lasting partnership than joint campaign rallies.

“The fundamental distinction is between electoral coordination and political integration,” he said. “The former can win an election; the latter is necessary to sustain a national governing partnership.”