Guan Eng: DAP will only back Pakatan Harapan candidates

(MMO) – DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng asserted today his party will only provide campaign support to candidates selected from within the Pakatan Harapan ranks in the Perak and Selangor by-elections next month.

He bluntly closed the door to cooperation with former ally PAS.

“PAS is not a part of Pakatan Harapan,” he said when asked if DAP will help the Islamist party which is gunning to contest the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the two federal seats of Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar on June 18.

The Penang chief minister refused to comment on speculation that PKR may work with PAS.

Instead, he said DAP will hold talks with PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, her deputy and Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu.

“Since it is in Selangor, we will also be discussing with Azmin,” he said.

Multicornered fights may take place in both seats as several parties within the fractured opposition front have indicated interest to contest against the BN.

The Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar parliamentary by-elections will take place simultaneously on June 18, during the Muslim fasting month; nominations will be held on June 5.

The by-elections were called after Umno’s Sungai Besar MP Datuk Noriah Kasnon and Kuala Kangsar MP Datuk Wan Muhammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad, also from Umno, were killed in a helicopter crash during the Sarawak state elections campaign last week.

In the 2013 elections, Wan Mohammad Khairil defeated PAS’ Khalil Idham Lim by a 1,082 majority.

Noriah retained her Sungai Besar seat but with a slim 399-vote majority against PAS candidate Mohamed Salleh M Husin.

Voter turnout was at 84 per cent for Kuala Kangsar and 88 per cent for Sungai Besar in the last elections.