Under pressure to wrap up seat talks
Insiders say they don’t relish the thought of having Azmin negotiate for PKR if Anwar goes to jail.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Pakatan Rakyat insiders expect a lot of acrimony among the parties of the alliance in their negotiations for seats to contest in the coming general election unless the horse trading is settled before Anwar Ibrahim goes to jail.
They say Anwar is second to none when it comes to negotiating skills, but they fear that it is almost certain that he will be convicted for sodomy, given the Najib administration’s determination to put him out of action.
That means, according to the insiders, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali will take over as chief negotiator for his party, and they say Azmin does not command much respect from other Pakatan leaders.
Indeed, he has already angered some PAS leaders with a recent statement accusing the Islamic party of eyeing seats that PKR claims as its own.
PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali, for instance, has effectively told him to shut up, according to the daily Sinar Harian.
Anwar, said a PAS source, must “sort out the seat allocation issues” before the end of his sodomy trial, which is expected to be wrapped up next month.
The sources also said the Pakatan leadership had divided the electoral seats into three categories.
