Amanah, DAP to give Muda six seats, four previously won by Harapan

 

JOHOR POLLS | Amanah and DAP have agreed to give up six state seats to Muda to contest in the Johor polls.

They are Tenang, Bukit Kepong, Parit Raja, Machap, Puteri Wangsa and Bukit Permai.

This followed the conclusion of negotiations between Amanah, DAP and Muda ahead of the Johor polls on March 12.

All six seats were contested by Bersatu when it was still part of Pakatan Harapan during the 2018 general election.

Bersatu, under the opposition coalition, had won four of those seats, namely Tenang, Bukit Kepong, Puteri Wangsa and Bukit Permai.

The announcement was made in a joint-statement by DAP secretary-general Lim Gun Eng, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and Muda president Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman.

As part of the negotiation process, Harapan had allocated all Bersatu seats between the component parties with PKR getting 20, Amanah 20 and DAP 16.

Subsequently, the respective component parties were required to enter into a negotiation with non-Harapan opposition parties - including Muda - on their own.

The negotiation between PKR and Muda has not concluded.

Amanah gets 16, DAP gets 14

Syed Saddiq, Mohamad and Lim, in the joint statement, said they arrived at a unanimous agreement to ensure that there will be no clash between Amanah, DAP and Muda.

They added that the goal was to consolidate their strengths with the goal of capturing the Johor government.

"This means in the 2022 Johor state election, Amanah, DAP and Muda will operate as strategic partners even though Muda is not part of Harapan.

"This is in line with the big tent principle to unite all opposition parties which are prepared to take on BN and PN," they said.

Malaysiakini understands that four out of the six seats given to Muda were initially allocated to Amanah.

DAP only gave up two seats –Machap and Bukit Permai – as it was originally only assigned 16 seats compared to Amanah and PKR getting 20 respectively.

With the conclusion of the negotiations, DAP and Amanah will end up contesting 14 seats and 16 seats respectively while Muda will have at least six and this could increase depending on how many seats PKR is willing to give up.

All eyes are now on PKR's negotiation with Muda, which have in recent years seen friction with DAP and Amanah.

This includes PKR deciding to use its own logo for the Johor polls while DAP and Amanah will use the Harapan banner.

Other opposition parties such as Pejuang has indicated it does not intend to cooperate with Harapan while Warisan has yet to formally reveal if it plans to contest in the Johor polls. - Mkini