JOHOR BAHRU: The last-minute candidacy change involving Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates in several Johor state assembly seats has been done in the spirit of the coalition, said Johor BN chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad.

He said the decision was made after considering matters such as the representation of women, young candidates as well as academic qualifications, which are the important criteria in selecting candidates.

"The last-minute change was made based on the BN spirit. MCA and MIC have also changed their list of candidates.

"Of course, UMNO needed to make adjustments as we have finalised seat distribution between the parties in BN," he said at a press conference when asked to comment about the change of candidates involving Sungai Balang and Tanjung Surat state assembly seats.

The press conference was held in conjunction with the launch of the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) Friends Entrepreneur Leadership Workshop in Senai here today.

Previously, BN announced Mohd Helmi Abdul Latif as its candidate at Sungai Balang before replacing him with Selamat Takim, while Datuk Syed Sis Abd Rahman was replaced by Aznan Tamim in Tanjung Surat.

Aznan is Pengerang UMNO division Youth chief.

BN fielded candidates in all 56 state assembly seats, namely 37 candidates from UMNO, MCA (15) and MIC (four).

On the coalition's campaign for the Johor state polls, Hasni said the party machinery has yet to be fully operational, adding that it would approach voters in stages based on a survey on the ground.

The Election Commission fixed polling day on March 12 and early voting on March 8.

-- BERNAMA