He said the party is no longer led by an “ustaz” (religious teacher) alone, but now comprises “ulamas and technocrats”.

“They are professionals. Some of them have served in the Cabinet or as menteris besar and proven they can do their work,” he told Astro Awani.

PAS, which is Bersatu’s main ally in Perikatan Nasional (PN), has three ministers, and five deputy ministers in the caretaker government. It also has three menteris besar governing the states of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.

Wan Fayhsal went on to say that voters were no longer intimidated by “outdated propaganda”, including labels such as “Pak Lebai” or pious men, which had been used disparagingly by Barisan Nasional leaders recently.

“The Pak Lebai party is clean and free of corruption.”

He said this when asked to address concerns that remarks by some PAS leaders might cost them votes from progressive Malays and non-Malays.

This included terms such as “kafir” and “communists”, which are often directed at the opposition and could also make it difficult for Bersatu to woo voters in mixed seats in the 15th general election (GE15).

Separately, Wan Fayhsal admitted that PN’s losses in Melaka and Johor could be attributed to certain shortcomings in the Bersatu and PAS election machinery.

He said this included focusing on the 1MDB scandal and former prime minister Najib Razak.

“We realised that people wanted to know what we can do for them,” he added.