PUTRAJAYA: Pakatan Harapan has set its sights on Kedah in the coming state polls and described the coalition’s negotiations with Barisan Nasional on seat allocations as “easy”, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
The Pakatan secretary-general said his coalition is optimistic of its chances in the northern state.
“The position we are taking is that we are entering this election to capture Kedah. And if we take the right way, we can do it. For Kelantan and Terengganu, our presence in the polls is to bring the voice of the opposition to the state assembly,” he said in a session with the media here yesterday.
Kedah is currently under Perikatan Nasional, with PAS having the most number of seats at 14 while its coalition partner Bersatu has six. Pakatan’s PKR has five seats, Amanah (three) and DAP (two). Barisan Nasional has two seats while Pejuang also has two seats in the state assembly.
Saifuddin Nasution said his coalition is aware of Perikatan’s confidence that it would take all the six states in the coming polls.
“It doesn’t matter. They can say what they want,” he added.
He was also confident that Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Penang would remain with Pakatan, although the opposition claimed it could take over Penang.
On seat negotiations between Pakatan and Barisan, he said that only two seats in Kedah and another two in Selangor remained unresolved and this would be discussed and decided by the Umno and PKR presidents.
However, he declined to reveal which seats in Kedah and Selangor had yet to be firmed up.
“It is normal that during elections, there are seats where parties cannot come to an agreement but I do not see any issues in resolving this,” he added.
Despite Pakatan and Barisan being long-time opponents and that they would be working together for the first time in an election, Saifuddin Nasution said it was “easy for the two coalitions to discuss, negotiate and work together”.“What makes it easy is that Umno put everything on the table and argued their case,” he said.
He said things were different when PKR was dealing with PAS during Pakatan Rakyat days.
“When you deal with PAS, they have things in the ‘drawer’. When you think that discussion is over, they will put new things on the table,” he added.
Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan will head for polls soon.
The Kelantan state assembly was dissolved yesterday while the Selangor assembly is set to be dissolved today.
Kedah and Penang are to dissolve their assembly on June 28 and Negri Sembilan on June 30.
Terengganu has yet to announce its dissolution date but its assembly will automatically dissolve on June 30.
