Pakatan Rakyat seats negotiation ends in impasse

(Borneo Post) – The first round of seats negotiation among state Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners went badly with PKR asking to contest in 50 seats while DAP eyes 30 seats and PAS targets 10 seats.

This scramble for seats creates an untenable situation for the opposition front as the total number of seats in the state is 71 while the total claimed by the three parties is 90.

This was disclosed yesterday by state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen, who said more negotiations would only be held if the other PR partner leaders came up with a more realistic assessment of  their chances.

Chong said PKR made it clear at the negotiation table that it wanted to contest in 50 seats, without considering the fact that it managed to win only three out of 49 seats it contested in the 2011 state election.

“After the 2011 election, (state PKR chairman) Baru Bian openly said they contested in too many seats and that they did not have the resources, but the first round of negotiations, they asked for 50 seats,” he said after chairing a three-hour state committee meeting at the party’s headquarters here.

DAP contested in 15 seats in the last election and secured 12 seats namely Padungan, Pending, Kota Sentosa, Batu Kawa, Meradong, Repok, Bukit Assek, Dudong, Bawang Assan, Kidurong, Piasau and Pujut.

The three seats PKR won in that election are Batu Lintang, Krian and Ba Kelalan while PAS did not deliver any of the five seats it contested.

Chong said the negotiations were held before the meeting on the hudud law in the country. The meeting was said to have taken place on May 16.

DAP had made it clear it is against the implementation of the law and threatened to break away from PR if PAS insisted on supporting the Islamic law.