SEREMBAN: The Negeri Sembilan state election results reflect a changing electoral landscape showing clear support by Malay-Muslim voters for a formal cooperation between the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalitions, analysts say.The observers add that this will likely prompt BN and PN to deepen their working relationship.The recently concluded election in Negeri Sembilan saw the alliance between BN and PN winning 25 of the 36 state assembly seats, securing a comfortable two-thirds majority. This supermajority will allow them to amend the state constitution. The two coalitions comfortably swept the Malay-majority seats by commanding margins, prompting analysts to predict that replicating this cooperation in the general elections may even pave the way for a victory. Malaysia’s 16th general elections (GE16) must be held by February 2028.At the same time, analysts note that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition will face mounting pressure following the election outcome in Negeri Sembilan, and similar setbacks in earlier state polls in Johor and Sabah. PH won 11 seats, down from 17 in the last election in 2023, as it ceded control of the state.Hisommudin Bakar, executive director of research firm Ilham Centre, told CNA that while achieving full consolidation between BN and PN would not be easy moving forward, the message from voters was “unmistakable”.“I believe they will move on forward and come to a compromise based on the desires of Malay voters who have made their message clear,” he told CNA. The Negeri Sembilan state election served as the first electoral experiment between BN and PN, with the former’s chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi suggesting that the partnership could potentially extend to the Melaka state election due by early 2027. Previously, PH had collaborated with BN in Negeri Sembilan in 2023 after both coalitions formed the federal unity government following a hung parliament in the wake of the 2022 general elections. PN meanwhile is the federal opposition bloc.