PKR has no mandate to resolve deadlock

Bernama — Parti Keadilan Rakyat admitted today that the opposition front was deadlocked over the allocation of seats in the Sarawak election.

State PKR chief Baru Bian said his party did not have the mandate to resolve the impasse.

He said that PKR’s disagreement with the DAP over the Batu Kawa, Dudong and Piasau seats, and with SNAP over several Dayak-majority areas was expected to be settled by the end of the month.

He said he expected PKR national leaders to decide on the party’s stand on April 29.

PKR, which won only Padungan in the last election, met the DAP in Kuala Lumpur yesterday but failed to reach agreement on seat allocation.

Baru Bian told reporters here that PKR, which wants to contest 52 seats, had yet to reach compromise with SNAP, which had expressed its intention to contest in 40 mainly Dayak-majority constituencies.

Earlier, Sarawak DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng said that his party was prepared to concede the two Chinese-majority areas of Padungan and Senadin even though it had the best chance of winning.

However, he said, the DAP, which is planning to contest 18 seats, was unwilling to give up Batu Kawa, Dudong and Piasau to PKR.

“The PKR negotiating team relied only on feedback from members in the state, many of whom want to contest for the sake of contesting,” he told a press conference.

The 18 seats that the DAP aims to vie for are Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang, Batu Kawah, Kota Sentosa, Simanggang, Balai Ringin, Bukit Assek, Pelawan, Dudong, Bawang Assan, Repok, Meradong, Kidurong, Senadin, Piasau, Pujut and Bukit Kota.

Referring to PKR’s claims to Batu Kawa, Dudong and Piasau, Wong said:”That type of big brother attitude towards the strongest opposition party in Sarawak is not acceptable.”

Asked if the opposition pact could form the next state government, he said that there was zero chance of that unless a workable entity could be formed.