DON’T BE GREEDY, DON’T BE STINGY: RESOLVE GE14 SEAT NEGOTIATIONS NOW, PKR SEC-GEN TELLS HARAPAN LEADERS

Seat negotiations among Pakatan Harapan component parties for the coming 14th general election is a challenge that the top leadership must face quickly, says PKR.

The formula for success in this area would require Harapan leaders to manage the differences among all component parties, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said today.

 





“The formula is that the old parties cannot be stingy (and) the new parties cannot be greedy. Can we all agree on this?” Saifuddin said in his speech at Federal Territories Kuala Lumpur Pakatan Harapan convention today.

“Don’t say, ‘because we are the oldest party, we have the most members; our experience is most tested; our leaders spent more time behind bars;’ to argue to get more seats,” he said.

“There is no other way out. They (the Harapan leaders) must resolve it,” added Saifuddin, who also who shared his own experience of “fighting” for seats with leaders from the former Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

He said this was done before their discussion was presented for endorsement of the Pakatan presidential council, which at the time included PAS as well.

The current Pakatan Harapan federal opposition, which recently saw the formal entry of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia as a member, also includes DAP and Amanah.




 DO IT NOW AND LET THE RAKYAT KNOW THE PAKATAN HARAPAN CANDIDATES NOW AND DO NOT BE CHILDISH AND SELFISH WHEN SHARING THE SEATS AS THE RAKYAT WILL NOT VOTE FOR  SELFISH CANDIDATES 

Commenting further, Saifuddin noted that the seat negotiations were ongoing and Harapan’s success in overcoming the process would build the rakyat’s trust in the federal opposition pact.

PAS, when in Pakatan, gave seats to PKR

At a press conference later, Saifuddin said PAS, when it was with Pakatan Rakyat, had given up some of its traditional seats to be contested by PKR and so the same understanding must now be applied by Harapan to Bersatu.

“Bersatu now only has one seat in Pagoh. It can’t be that they should remain to contest in one seat only.

“The ongoing seat negotiations are among four Harapan coalition parties. We will give the member parties the opportunity to contest fairly, based on winnability,” the former Temerloh MP added.

However, Saifuddin noted that there were some “peculiarities” that must be accommodated at state levels, for example in Sabah, which features a long list of local opposition parties.

“There are other players and so we (Harapan) have to accommodate all parties that want to become the opposition,” he said without naming any party.

In his speech earlier, DAP acting national chairperson Tan Kok Wai said the PAS of today should be regarded as an ally of BN, rather than as an opposition party.

At the convention, Federal Territory Harapan also launched a six-point resolution of demands made to the Federal Territories Ministry, one of this being the urgent gazetting of the Kuala Lumpur 2020 local plan.

MKINI