PAS says yes to cooperation, but no to surrendering any seats

(MMO) – PAS will not yield any of the seats it previously contested just to collaborate with other opposition parties in the next general election, said deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

Tuan Ibrahim stressed that this was not open to negotiation and was a prerequisite for any cooperation with his party.

“There is no compromise on this matter. In the 70 (federal) seats, they should not contest there,” he told reporters after a joint political rally with PKR and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) yesterday.

It also did not matter whether PAS won or lost those seats, so long as the Islamist party had contested them in Election 2013, he added.

“It’s easy. Don’t come and contest in our seats and rest we can discuss,” he said during his speech, referring to the aim of achieving straight fights between Barisan Nasional and the opposition parties in the next general election.

PAS was part of the defunct Pakatan Rakyat pact with DAP and PKR, which collapsed following disagreements between the Islamist party and the secularist DAP.

DAP and PKR went on to form Pakatan Harapan with PAS splinter party Amanah, while the Islamist party created a so-called “Third Bloc” with Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia.

The condition laid out by Tuan Ibrahim will make it difficult to arrive at a compromise; Amanah and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s PPBM that will sign a cooperation agreement with Pakatan Harapan today, both target the same rural Malay audience as PAS.

Amanah, which comprises the so-called “progressives” that quit PAS, has already expressed intention to aim for some of the older party’s seats, prompting PAS leaders to retaliate by saying they will now go after Pakatan Harapan constituencies.

Securing straight fights against BN is crucial to any opposition bid to depose the ruling party due to the country’s first-past-the-post electoral system and the monolithic nature of the 13-party ruling coalition.

Previous multicornered encounters have demonstrated that BN invariably gains when opposition supporters are divided among two or more like-minded parties.

The next general election is due no later than August 2018, but rumours of a possible snap poll are now spreading.