PAS says still 15pc overlap in seat talks with DAP, PKR
(The Malaysian Insider) – PAS said today that seat negotiations for the coming general election are coming along smoothly and are almost completed, but said that there are still unresolved cases of overlapping seats with the DAP and PKR.
“We are almost done, its well on its way. But there are still 10 to 15 per cent overlapping of seats… nationwide,” PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali (picture) told reporters.
He said PAS would likely contest most of the parliamentary and state seats that it previously contested in 2008.
Mustafa also said the Islamist party was considering a request by the PAS Muslimat wing that 30 of its candidates be allowed to contest for the party in the next general election.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is expected to finally wrap up seat negotiations among its three component parties by the end of March, after months of delays and reports of squabbling between party leaders over seat allocations.
It is learnt that PR leaders had agreed to a “general” deadline during a recent leadership council meeting, having taken into consideration elections will not be called anytime soon.
“Generally, we want to wrap it up by end of March. DAP proposed it (during the meeting). We want to settle this as soon as possible.
“It would be good to wrap it up as elections might take place after the next Parliament sitting,” DAP national socialist youth (Dapsy) chief Anthony Loke told The Malaysian Insider.
Loke stressed that discussions on parliamentary and state seat allocations were coming along smoothly, and that negotiations were about “80 per cent” complete.
“Majority of the seats are settled,” the DAP leader said with the exception of four states — Sabah, Sarawak, Pahang and Johor, where overlapping claims for seats occurred.
PR leaders previously said seat talks would be concluded by the end of September last year, amid talk of squabbling among its state leaders.
PKR has also said it will contest more federal seats in the next general election despite already taking the lion’s share of seats and suffering the most number of party defections since 2008.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution told The Malaysian Insider in December although seat negotiations for some states have yet to be finalised, PKR will most likely have “slightly” more candidates running in parliamentary seats than in 2008.
