Pakatan confirm not holding concurrent polls with BN in states they rule

UPDATED DAP is the first of the Pakatan Rakyat parties to announce that it will not agree to holding concurrent state elections with the BN in the states they rule of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan should there be snap polls this year.

PKR too has made the same decision.

PAS is expected to also announce a similar decision for the states of Selangor and Penang, although it may separately review the situation in Kedah and Kelantan, where it holds the majority seats.

"We will make our final assessment at our central committee meeting, but of course, you can expect our stand will be in line with the Pakatan overall. That goes without doubt because we are going in as a full coalition, not separate parties," PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub told Malaysia Chronicle.

"We are actually ready, but why should we play to the BN's game. We want the best chances to win, so we must ponder the wisdom of the different possibilities."

PKR vice president Tian Chua had earlier expressed similar sentiments, saying that Pakatan was ready but would not "simply blow its chances".

"We have to fight smart. Where we have the best chances, we will zoom in. So let PAS do its evaluation. For Selangor and Penang, if it is this year, we won't join in the GE. We will focus our full attention on the parliamentary seats and give BN the fight of their lives," Tian told Malaysia Chronicle.

Maybe 2012

Meanwhile, at a press conference this morning, Guan Eng confirmed there was greater chance for Pakatan to hold concurrent polls with BN if GE is declared in 2012, but not this year.

Speculation has been high that Najib was mulling snap general elections as early as July in order to take Pakatan unawares and unprepared.

“But if snap polls are called next year, then there is a greater likelihood that we would agree to hold concurrent elections,” he told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here this morning," said Guan Eng.

The Pakatan decision is likely to deal a blow to Najib's plans. Those close to him say he is eager to win his own mandate even if it was a simple majority. Apart from the the opposition gaining ground by the day, Najib is fighting off infighting from within Umno.

Former premier Mahathir, who still holds significant influence in Umno, wants GE in 2012. So does his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin.

"We must ask whether after the 13th general election we will still be in power. It will be most painful if we don't have two-thirds majority in Parliament," Bernama reported him as saying last week.

Tough call for Najib

But Najib's supporters are unlikely to be consoled by the DPM's words. They see in him a pretender to Najib's throne and point to the growing profile Muhyiddin's supporters were accumulating for him. Just a day ago, the Tan Sri Muhyiddin (TSM) Charity Golf Foundation launched the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Dialysis Centre for the poor.

Muhyiddin has also been warning of a series of price hikes the government must implement, or end up with an extra RM10 billion in deficit spending this year due to soaring global prices.

The negative impact on public sentiment will surely be hard for the BN to weather if Najib insists on dissolving Parliament next month.

However, pundits say Najib might still try to ride roughshod over his critics as he believes that no matter what, he can still deliver a simple-majority for the BN now whereas the going might get tougher next year.

"That is also true. Even the oil analysts won't dare to predict oil will stop increasing in price. What is if it keeps going up because there are some experts who are talking about oil at US$200. Can the Najib administration implement offsetting measures in time especially when there is so much infighting building within Umno and amongst the components especially with MCA," said Tian.

"He made his mistake in 2009, he should have focused on the economy and not go after Pakatan and Anwar. The attacks have yielded nothing, while Penang and Selangor are the best managed states but not the Malaysian economy and this is directly under Najib.

- Malaysia Chronicle