SIMPANG RENGGAM (June 27) — The caretaker Chief Minister of Johor, Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, is set to defend his Machap seat in a direct head-to-head battle against Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Nor Hafiz Roslan in the upcoming 16th Johor state election.

The two-way contest was officially confirmed by returning officer Mohd Izzul Helmi Ahmad at the local nomination centre on Saturday morning, shortly after the 10:00 am deadline.

Both candidates arrived early to formalise their running. Nor Hafiz handed in his official papers at 9:03 am, followed closely by Onn Hafiz—representing the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition—at 9:06 am.

This election will be much more straightforward than the last. In the previous state election, Onn Hafiz won the seat by a comfortable majority of 6,543 votes, successfully beating off challenges from three other rival parties.

Voters in Johor will head to the polls on 11 July.