JOHOR BAHRU: Barisan Nasional (BN) cannot feel too comfortable and confident that victory will be in its favour in the Johor State Election following a series of successful by-elections and the Melaka state polls prior to this, says BN communications director Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.

He said it was imperative for everyone in the party, especially the candidates themselves, must continue to double their efforts to reach out to the people during the current campaign period.

"We must work harder, and I hope and am confident that from the people's response to Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad, there will be something good for the people of this state," he said during a discussion on the Suara Johor programme broadcast on Bernama TV today.

Shamsul Anuar said as a state close to Singapore, Johor had great potential to continue to be developed, especially in terms of its economy, but the effort to implement the development required the right 'ingredients' and careful planning, so that the benefits could be felt by the people throughout the state.

He said, therefore, BN had come up with a realistic 'Ikhtiar BN Johor' manifesto in order to restore the state's economic strength and development which had stagnated for so long due to political uncertainty.

The Johor state election is set to be held on Saturday, with 2.597 million eligible voters, 173,177 of whom are first-time voters aged 18 to 20.

-- BERNAMA