Penang PH incumbents ‘not willing to give up seats’

 

Chow Kon Yeow said the Penang PH decision on seats will be brought to the attention of BN at a meeting soon. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan leaders in Penang have decided that the coalition will contest the same seats won in 2018 when state assembly elections are held this year.

Penang PH chairman Chow Kon Yeow said: “So far, there are no incumbents who want to relinquish their seats,” Bernama quoted him as saying.

The decision to contest the same seats was reached at yesterday’s PH meeting, which finalised the seat allocations among component parties.

“We will now meet the state Umno-Barisan Nasional leaders to see if their views align with our decision. We hope we can agree to the seat distribution so that we do not have to refer the matter to our national leaderships,” he said in a Facebook posting.

Chow said the state coalition was “still subject to the principles agreed upon at the federal level, with PH and Barisan Nasional having already agreed that the incumbents will contest the seats (they won)”, Bernama reported.

Chow said he could not reveal in detail the agreement reached last night regarding seat allocations. He said the matter would have to be brought up for discussion at the next meeting with Umno and BN.

“Seeing that the state polls this time involve coalitions from outside PH, what we (Penang PH) have decided is subject to further discussions,” said Chow.

Penang has 40 state assembly seats. In 2018, PH won 37 seats, including two state seats by candidates from Bersatu, which was then with PH. BN won two seats and PAS one seat.

The state assemblies of Kedah, Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan and Terengganu are expected to be dissolved towards the end of June. Elections must be held within 60 days of dissolution.

Other states held their state assembly elections simultaneously with the parliamentary general election in November. - FMT