JOHOR BARU: Although talks on seat allocation for the 16th General Election (GE16) and Johor election have yet to start, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said the party wants to defend its existing seats.
He said the decision to dissolve Parliament lies in the hands of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but hopes the state elections and GE16 could run concurrently to save resources, especially for big states like Sarawak.
“There are talks about the Johor election coming soon but actually, Melaka’s term will end in December next year. Johor’s will be ending in April 2027.
“If indeed GE16 will be held concurrently with the state elections, that means Parliament will be dissolved much earlier before the term ends in late 2027,” he said when officiating the Johor DAP annual convention here on Sunday (Nov 2).
Loke said another aspect to look at was the seat allocations and cooperation model among the parties in the Unity Government.
“Things are unique in Johor because at the federal level, we work with Barisan Nasional but here, we are not in the state government.
“However, I believe we have our own strength in Johor and we will hold talks with our Pakatan Harapan partners and the Prime Minister soon to ensure we achieve success.
“We will fight for our incumbents to at least defend the party’s five parliamentary seats and 10 state seats, no matter what the cooperation model looks like later,” he said.
