Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir said the party did not expect that Muda would field candidates in Malay-majority areas.

“We have no issues with Muda, but we had wanted to contest in areas with a majority of Malay voters from the start. We did not expect to see Muda vying for those seats too as we thought they would focus on urban and suburban areas,” he said after launching the party’s ‘Pejuang Muda’ and ‘Pejuanita Muda’ election machinery.

Mukhriz said Pejuang accepted the fact that any party could field their candidates in the state elections, adding that clashes were inevitable in a country that practised a democratic system.

Pejuang will overlap with Muda in Tenang, Parit Raja, Machap, Larkin, Puteri Wangsa, Bukit Permai and Bukit Kepong.

Previously, Mukhriz had said that Pejuang was holding discussions to cooperate with Muda in the Johor polls.

Polling day falls on March 12 while tomorrow is nomination day.