Anwar: Pakatan to contest all 56 seats

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan will contest all 56 state seats in the Johor state election, and is still open to cooperate with other Opposition parties, says PKR president, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"Most importantly, all 56 seats will be contested by three Pakatan parties. But, we are still open for negotiations with others, such as the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda)," said Anwar to reporters after chairing a meeting at PKR's headquarters in Merchant Square on Wednesday (Jan 26).

However, Anwar did not give a straight answer when asked on how many seats would Muda be allowed to contest in Johor if it enters into an alliance with Pakatan.

"As far as we are concerned, Pakatan has completed talks on 56. But, we can still discuss with other Opposition parties," added Anwar.

Prior to the dissolution of the state assembly on Jan 22, Pakatan had 27 assemblymen, consisting of 14 from DAP, seven from PKR, and six from Amanah.

However, Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has said that the party is still undecided whether to contest in Johor this round.

When contacted, Muda president, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, said the new party will focus on better policies for Johor.

"People are more interested to hear about policies, reforms, and charting the way forward to make Johor a fully-developed state which embraces diversity and moderation, over 'who will contest' and 'political strategies'.

"Muda will focus on that first," Syed Saddiq said in a brief text.

On Jan 24, Pejuang announced that it will contest 42 of the 56 seats in the upcoming state election.

"Discussions with Pakatan are in the final stages, and Pejuang will decide later after looking into several matters," Pejuang secretary-general Datuk Dr Saharuddin Mohd Salleh was quoted as saying.

The Election Commission will have a special meeting on Feb 9 to decide on key dates and other matters related to the 15th Johor state election, namely polling and nomination dates.