State chiefs to negotiate election seats, says Anwar

 

Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim and Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi with other party leaders at the unity coalition leadership meeting tonight. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Coalition party leaders in Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government have agreed that seat negotiations for the coming elections will be handled by state party leaderships.

Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim said “no issues” had arisen in discussions at a coalition leadership meeting tonight about seat allocations.

The coming elections in six states, expected to be held after June, will be the first at which PH and Barisan Nasional will contest as allies and electoral partners, after decades as bitter rivals.

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When asked how the coalition would approach seat distributions in DAP-dominated Penang and PKR-led Selangor, he told reporters there were “no issues during the meeting today”.

“We discussed earlier that there is no problem (with regard to the distribution of seats in states that are fully controlled by a certain party). Like some states led by Umno we accept that, and other states led by PH component parties, we also accept.

“I think there is no dispute here, but I leave it to the wisdom of the respective state leaderships who should begin the negotiations in a proper manner, and then present (the results) to the central leadership,” he told reporters after the coalition leadership meeting, held at Umno’s headquarters.

Anwar said state PH leaders would use their judgement in negotiations with their BN counterparts, which he said would centre on potential candidates and strategies in addition to seats.

Parties allied to the coalition that do not contest in the peninsula had also agreed to extend their support, he said.

In last November’s general election, PH won 16 seats in Selangor, while Perikatan Nasional took six. BN failed to secure any parliamentary seat in either Selangor or Penang.

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The state assemblies of Kedah, Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan and Terengganu are expected to be dissolved in the second half of June, paving the way for elections within 60 days of dissolution.

PAS controls the state governments of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, while PH controls Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. - FMT