With the end of campaigning at midnight, 9.67 million voters are set to cast their ballots today in six states — KedahPenangSelangorNegri SembilanKelantanTerengganu.
Although no one state is less important than the other, all eyes will be fixed on Selangor, the country's wealthiest state with 56 seats up for grabs.
Political analysts say that
although Perikatan Nasional is confident of wresting the state, the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional combination remains a force to be reckoned with.
Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Azmi Hassan said the PH-BN pact was too strong for PN.
"PN is banking on 100 per cent Malay votes. Not all constituencies have between 70 and 80 per cent Malay voters."
Azmi sees the PH-BN pact winning two-thirds majority, but slightly reduced from what PH won in the last state election, which was held simultaneously with the 14th General Election (GE14).
"BN can win eight to nine seats out of the 12 it is contesting. They might be 'weak' in Selangor, but have PH supporters in the state.
"PH can win about 35 seats from the 44 it is contesting."
Concurring with Azmi, political analyst Dr Ainul Adzellie Hasnul is also confident PH-BN will retain Selangor and form the state government.
The PH-BN pact, he said, could win around 39 to 42 seats, including a few focused seats contested by political bigwigs.
"There are hot seats, such as Hulu Kelang, I see that PH candidate Juwairiya Zulkilfi might be able to win a close battle against PN's Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
"In Batu Tiga, PN's Datuk Seri Rina Harun will lose against PH's Danial Al-Rashid Harun.
"Afif Bahardin from PN will lose in Taman Medan against PH's Akhir Pawan Chik.
"But PH might lose a few seats to PN due to the 'green wave' and voters' belief that PN is more balanced in terms of its number of Malay leaders."
Provided that Selangor residents come out to vote, said Ainul, Malay voters will be the kingmaker.
He said should PN win the election and form the state government, it will face some challenges in obtaining allocations from the federal government.
"On the bright side, Selangor is already a developed state. But it is a better deal if the state is led by a government that is aligned with the federal government."
In GE14, Pakatan Harapan (PH) dominated Selangor by winning 51 seats, followed by Barisan Nasional (BN) with four seats and Pas with one seat.
Before the state assembly was dissolved on June 23, PH had 40 seats (PKR-19, DAP-15, Parti Amanah Negara with six seats).
BN had five seats, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia had four, Parti Bangsa Malaysia had two, while Pas, Pejuang and Warisan had one seat each and there was one independent assemblyman.
This time, PH is contesting 44 seats (PKR-20, DAP-15 and Amanah-nine), while BN has 12 seats contested by Umno.
Among its notable candidates are caretaker menteri besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, who is set to defend his Sungai Tua seat, Najwan Halimi (Kota Anggerik), Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni (Sungai Kandis), Mohd Khairuddin Othman (Paya Jaras), Gunaraj George (Sentosa) and Chua Wei Kiat (Rawang).
On July 13, Amirudin, who is Selangor PH chairman, said he was confident the coalition could win at least 33 out of the 56 seats and described 33 constituencies as safe seats for PH and its partner BN.
On Aug 10, BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the coalition could win all 12 contested seats, despite claims by certain quarters that they might only secure five seats.
Meanwhile, PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the coalition was confident of wresting the state if 90 per cent of Malay voters turn up to cast their votes.