SELANGOR IN JEOPARDY DUE TO THE MESS AZMIN MADE TO PROTECT HIS OWN POWER – HE ONLY CHOSE THOSE WHO WOULD LISTEN TO HIM, HARAPAN ALLIES REVEAL SEAT NEGO WITH PAS NOW ‘IMPOSSIBLE’: TIME FOR AZMIN TO STEP DOWN AS SELANGOR HARAPAN CHIEF OR BE REMOVED?

Selangor Pakatan Harapan chairperson Azmin Ali’s efforts to woo PAS assemblypersons to crossover are said to have thrown a spanner into the works as far as the state seat negotiations are concerned.

Several Selangor Harapan leaders have revealed that due to this, the state is unable to initiate formal seat negotiations for the upcoming polls despite other states making progress.

Apart form the PAS factor, another obstacle was Selangor PKR’s demand that it be given the lion’s share of Selangor seats to contest amongst the four parties in the coalition, said the leaders who wanted anonymity.

The Harapan central leadership had directed all states to finalise their seat negotiations by Jan 31 following the completion of federal seat allocations earlier this month.

The leaders said that Selangor PKR’s attempt to engage PAS assemblypersons to defect and contest under PKR’s banner had complicated matters.

Both Selangor Bersatu chief Abdul Rashid Asari and Selangor Amanah chief Izham Hashim, when contacted, said they may refer the matter to the central leadership if it could not be resolved.

“The Harapan presidential council had given all the states until Jan 31 to settle the state seat negotiations. Several meetings have been held among the Harapan parties in Selangor and I agree that a reasonable formula has been found.

“However, a meeting between the four parties has yet to be conducted. If there is still no resolution by the end of this month, a discussion should be made at the national level with the state chiefs in attendance,” said Izham.

Elaborating, Abdul Rashid (pix below) said Selangor PKR’s effort to court PAS had been conveyed to its Harapan allies last December and early this month.

“In both meetings, Selangor Harapan chairperson Azmin Ali’s representatives informed us that PKR was negotiating with PAS and said that some of the incumbent PAS state assemblypersons would come over,” he said.

“But the three Harapan parties’ stand is clear. We reject the third party’s (PAS) involvement in the seat negotiations,” he added.

It was reported by The Malaysian Insight which quoted sources that at least four PAS’ representatives in Selangor may cross over to Harapan.

Their move, however, is being actively blocked by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang which resulted in the Selangor government terminating Selangor PAS lawmakers’ allocation last year.

Another highly-placed source said Azmin, who is Selangor menteri besar. should have been the one to call for the seat negotiations meeting.

“There were only two meetings held in September and October last year. And how about the other states? Well, they have meetings on a weekly or biweekly basis,” said the source.

“He (Azmin) chose to rope in this faction of PAS because they listened to him,” said the source.

He claimed that Bersatu, Amanah and DAP, which had discussed the Selangor seat allocation among themselves, have made progress during their informal talks.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rashid said Selangor Harapan’s initial agreement was to give the12 Umno seats to Bersatu to contest while the state seats won by PAS would be contested by Amanah.

“On the seats held by PAS, Amanah agreed that Bersatu would be given some seats to contest. There is no problem between us. But PKR wants to take some of the PAS seats and Umno seats as well,” he said.

He said PKR wanted to contest the Umno-held seats as it claimed Bersatu had ‘no strength’ in Selangor.

“Well, we have almost 20,000 members in Selangor. We have enough to mobilise the election campaign too,” said Abdul Rashid.

When contacted, Selangor DAP chief Tony Pua confirmed the Selangor seat negotiations have yet to begin.

“There has been no formal seat negotiations in Selangor to date but we are confident it can be resolved,” he told Malaysiakini in a text message.

At its Jan 7 national convention, Harapan announced that Bersatu would contest 52 out of the 165 parliamentary seats in West Malaysia.

PKR was allocated 51 seats, DAP, 35 seats and Amanah, 27.

Then Pakatan Rakyat which had included PAS won 44 seats out of the 56 seats it contested in Selangor at the 2013 polls – 15 each by DAP and PAS and 14 by PKR.

BN won 12 seats while there are two independent assemblypersons.

PAS has since left the opposition coalition and is seen as increasingly BN- friendly in the run-up to the coming polls.

– M’kini