Multi-cornered contests will boost PH chances, says Adly

 The Melaka PH chairman says past experience with multi-cornered contests provided PH with more room to plan its strategy to secure victories.

Melaka PH chairman Adly Zahari said ‘we cannot control whether other parties field candidates, but we can manage ourselves’.

PETALING JAYA:

Multi-cornered contests at the Melaka state election next month, including clashes with Bersatu, could improve Pakatan Harapan’s chances of winning seats in the Nov 14 polls, Melaka PH chairman Adly Zahari said.

He said contests involving three or more candidates were not necessarily disadvantageous to the coalition and provided an edge over straight fights.

He said PH’s past experience with multi-cornered contests provided PH with more room to plan its strategy to secure victories. “We cannot control whether other parties field candidates, but we can manage ourselves,” he was quoted as saying in a MalaysiaGazette report.

PH has announced it will contest 24 of the 28 state seats, including four where its candidates will face Bersatu, despite the coalition not ruling out a pact with Muhyiddin Yassin’s party.

The four seats are Kelebang, Gadek, Ayer Keroh and Pengkalan Batu.

Asked whether the overlapping contests reflected a failure in PH Plus negotiations, Adly, who will contest in Bukit Katil, said the matter was not relevant, and called for the decisions to be respected.

“Whether there were negotiations or not, and whether they succeeded or failed, that will depend on the outcome on polling day, Nov 14,” he said.

Adly also said the seats PH decided to contest were based on preparations made for those constituencies.

“We are neither influenced by nor do we allow ourselves to be influenced by where other parties want to contest.” - FMT