PETALING JAYA, April 18 – With nomination day only three days away, opposition pact parties have yet to finalise the allocation of seats in several states. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) supreme council member R.Sivarasa said the opposition will try to finalise the allocation of seats before nomination day on Saturday.
“If possible, we do not want a three cornered fight,” he told a press conference at the PKR headquarters here today.
The opposition pact comprising PAS, PKR and DAP are disputing over seats in Perlis, Penang, Johor, Labuan and Negri Sembilan. In Perlis, state mufti Dr Juanda Jaya from PKR and Baharuddin Ahmad from PAS have been named for Kangar parliamentary seat.
In Penang, Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia coordinator Badrul Hisham Shahrin from PKR and Penang PAS Youth chief Yusni Md Piah are eyeing Sungai Acheh state seat. In Johor, PKR legal bureau director Jimmy Puah Wee Tse and DAP Youth assistant publicity secretary, Liow Cai Tung (DAP) were named as candidates for Johor Jaya state seat.
For Labuan parliamentary seat, PKR has put up Tan Sri Ibrahim Menudin as candidate while PAS had named Labuan information chief Hadnan Mohamad as candidate. The opposition had also deferred the full list of candidates for Negeri
Sembilan twice, on Saturday and Tuesday, allegedly over selection of candidates.
In Selangor, Semenyih state seat might see a three-cornered fight between Barisan Nasional (BN), Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and PKR. PSM chairman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, the incumbent for Kota Damansara today confirmed its secretary-general S. Arutchelvan will contest Semenyih seat using its party symbol. Sivarasa said PSM had agreed to use the PKR symbol when contesting Kota Damansara state seat and Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in the general election.
“Kota Damansara and Sungai Siput are PKR seats but we gave it PSM to contest provided they use the PKR symbol and they have agreed except for Semenyih. This is because the PSM symbol is not well known compared to PKR.”
During 2008 election, Johan Abdul Aziz from BN won the Semenyih seat beating Arutchelvan with a majority of 1,140 votes. Meanwhile, the opposition party’s nomination problems were not only between parties but also within the parties.
The PKR election committee meeting here yesterday was reported to be heated as no consensus was reached on candidates for seats in Pahang, Perak and Selangor.
BERNAMA
