PAS, Bersatu eyeing same seats

KLANG: Seat negotiations between Perikatan Nasional partners PAS and Bersatu have hit a snag in Selangor with both parties wanting several of the same seats.

A Perikatan source said while seat negotiations in Selangor were still ongoing, discussions in the other states that will be holding upcoming elections have been sorted out.

“Both parties have given justifications why it is crucial for them to get the seats and negotiations are expected to be settled only by the first week of June,” said the source.

According to the source, the contentious seats were Gombak Setia, Hulu Kelang and Dusun Tua under the Gombak parliamentary seat and Port Klang in Klang.

The incumbents are Hilman Idham (Gombak Setia-Bersatu), Saari Sungib (Hulu Kelang-Amanah), Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof (Dusun Tua-DAP) and Azmizam Zaman Huri (Port Klang-PKR).

“Bersatu feels that it must have the Gombak Setia seat as its incumbent is from the party.

“PAS also feels that it has the strongest presence in Gombak and has to have the parliamentary constituency’s ‘Tier A’ seat which is Gombak Setia,” said the source.

The source further said that when it comes to Selangor, PAS had the most number of branches in Gombak, and three-term assemblyman Saari Sungib had also won his seat on the PAS ticket before Amanah came into existence.

As for Dusun Tua, the only motivation for both partners was to unseat DAP from the Malay majority state assembly constituency.

He said both parties also wanted Port Klang as it is the only “Malay seat” in the Klang parliamentary constituency.

“Both PAS and Bersatu need the seat to mark a presence in Klang,” he said.

Seat negotiations between Pakatan Rakyat partner parties were also ongoing as Umno is now in the equation and is expecting to get some good Malay majority seats as well.