With MCA out of the way, Gerakan eyes more seats in Penang

 

(From left) Koo Shiaw Lee (Gerakan vice-president), Dominic Lau and Oh Tong Keong showing the party’s young voter outreach programme pamphlets.

GEORGE TOWN: Now that Gerakan is with Perikatan Nasional (PN) and does not need to split the Chinese majority seats with MCA, the party is eyeing more than the four parliamentary and 13 state seats it contested in the last general election in Penang.

The party, which lost all the seats it contested in 2018, had to share most of the Chinese-majority seats with MCA as both were component parties of Barisan Nasional (BN). Gerakan quit BN and joined PN in 2021.

There are 13 parliamentary and 40 state seats up for grabs in Penang.

Penang Gerakan chief Oh Tong Keong said the state chapter had submitted its request to the national leadership.

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“Our national leaders will discuss the matter with the PN leadership,” Oh, who is also the party’s deputy president, told a press conference.

Meanwhile, party president Dominic Lau said Gerakan had already compiled a list of seats that it wanted to contest in GE15.

“However, these are subject to ongoing negotiations with PN component parties. We have been told to give way to incumbents to defend their seats. All component parties have already submitted their respective lists. If there are no clashes, we will all get to contest what we asked for,” he said.

Gerakan dominated Penang politics for 39 years from 1969 until 2008, as both an opposition party during the Alliance years and a BN component party after 1974.

The party’s reign in Penang ended when it lost to Pakatan Rakyat in the 12th general election in 2008. The party left BN in 2018, after losing all seats it contested nationwide. - FMT