MIC president SA Vigneswaran has revealed that one main reason his party and MCA are skipping the six state elections was that they were sidelined in seat negotiations.
He said the formula used, in which incumbent parties get to keep their seats, left few constituencies available for BN to contest.
"During negotiations (for opposition-held seats), however, giving seats to MCA and MIC was never discussed, especially in Kedah, Penang, and Selangor.
"Besides that, Umno was not very spirited in holding talks with MCA and MIC.
"Even though they (Umno) said they would give us seats, it was not discussed in negotiations. Because of that, we decided not to contest the state elections," Vigneswaran (above) told reporters today at the MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
MCA and MIC had separately announced their decision to sit out the upcoming state polls on July 5.
MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker had claimed that the move was aimed at "easing" racial tensions.
GE16 concerns
Meanwhile, Vigneswaran expressed concerns about MIC's chances of contesting the 16th general election if Pakatan Harapan and BN remained allies and used the same seat distribution formula as they were now.
"If we agree to the same formula (for incumbents to defend seats) during GE16, MIC can only contest in Tapah.
"Such negotiations are not suitable for MIC. Our party's future is more important than contesting in the state elections," he said.
MIC had contested 10 Parliament seats during GE15, of which it only won in Tapah.
Six of the other seats it contested were won by Harapan, while another three were won by Perikatan Nasional. - Mkini
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