Johor PKR, DAP rift widens
(Bernama) – The protracted tussle between Johor Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and DAP over seats to be contested in the coming general election is creating a widening rift between the two parties.
In fact, Johor PKR election director Steven Choong said the last time the two parties met to negotiate the distribution of seats for the coming 13th general election was in July last year.
“After the last meeting in July, we (Johor DAP and PKR) have not held any discussion until today,” he told Bernama.
Choong admitted that the two parties failed to settle their problems on seat distribution and had left the matter to the Pakatan Rakyat presidential consultative council to resolve the matter.
He said Johor PKR would accept any decision made at the central level on seat distribution in the state for the coming general election.
He said the dispute between Johor DAP and PKR involved overlapping demands to contest seats but he declined to name the seats involved.
However, political observers said among the disputed seats were the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat and Johor Jaya state seat.
In the 2008 general election, the Gelang Patah seat was contested by PKR and Johor Jaya by Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) before it was absorped into PKR.
Johor DAP is said to be interested in fielding its candidates for both seats which are currently held by MCA under the Barisan Nasional banner.
Choong stressed that in Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition pact, no party was more powerful than the others.
The issue of seat distribution between Johor PKR and DAP arose when the latter allegedly wanted more seats to be contested by its candidates in the coming general election.
Johor DAP has traditionally been contesting seats with Chinese-majority voters but is now eyeing seats with mixed voters which were previously contested by PKR.
“Johor PKR has consistently been contesting in mixed seats,” Choong said while criticising Johor DAP for not complying with the central directive not to raise the issue of seat distribution in the media.
