GEORGE TOWN: Perikatan Nasional plans to contest in all 40 state seats in the upcoming state election.
“We have shortlisted our candidates. Right now, we are all on standby and waiting for the state assembly to be dissolved to pave the way for the state election,” said the coalition’s Penang deputy chairman Oh Tong Keong.
He said they would focus on issues such as ways to deal with the traffic jams.
Perikatan will be up against Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional.
Former Kepala Batas MP Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, who is now Umno’s coordinator for the state election in six states, said they were strengthening their cooperation with Pakatan based on the unity government concept.
“We have not begun seat negotiation yet,” he said.
The two-term MP, who lost his seat in the 15th General Election (GE15), said he believed that the people wanted to see state seats represented by a coalition that was aligned with the Federal Government.
Penang Barisan chairman Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir said no decision had been made yet on election strategies and seat allocations.
“We have not met to discuss this. Right now, the only ongoing meetings are those held within party branches to address local and community issues,” said Musa, who is also Penang Umno chief.
As for Parti Warisan, which made its debut in Penang in the last general election, it is awaiting directive from its headquarters.
“We expect updates by March before evaluating the decision of Pakatan and Barisan on seat allocation,” state Warisan chairman Jeff Ooi said.
In GE15 in November last year, all four Warisan candidates were defeated and lost their deposits.
It was reported that the six states that had yet to hold their polls were set to dissolve their assemblies simultaneously sometime in June.
The leaders of the states met on Wednesday and collectively agreed to consider dissolving their assemblies at the same time.
This was revealed by Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari and Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow in Facebook posts after the meeting.
