GEORGE TOWN: Perikatan Nasional is going on the offensive by contesting all 40 seats in the “lion’s den” of Penang, where Pakatan Harapan holds sway.
Penang Perikatan deputy chairman Oh Tong Keong said it has enough qualified candidates to go head-to-head in the heart of its political rival’s lair.
In its last election in 2018, held in tandem with the 14th General Election, Pakatan won 37 out of the 40 state seats in Penang.
Oh said Gerakan would contest at least 13 seats while the 15 Malay-majority seats would be contested by coalition partners PAS and Bersatu.
He added that negotiations were still ongoing for the remaining 12 seats that are mixed and Chinese-majority constituencies.
“We will field candidates in all the seats here.
“We will do our best to convince voters that we can do better for Penang,” he said.
On Sunday, Oh, who is also Penang Gerakan chairman, said his party would contest in Pulau Tikus, Pantai Jerejak, Kebun Bunga, Padang Kota, Batu Lanchang and eight other seats in Penang.
Penang PAS election director Bukhori Ghazali said negotiations for the Malay-majority seats had more or less been completed, except for one or two.
“On the 15 Malay-majority seats, I would say that both PAS and Bersatu will get almost a similar number of seats to contest.
“A final decision will be made by the PAS syura council and Perikatan’s leadership at the federal level,” he added.
The Kepala Batas PAS division chief said talk was still on going for racially-mixed seats such as Machang Bubok, Sungai Pinang and Batu Maung.
“It is still anyone’s for the taking as a final decision has yet to be made on these seats.
“In terms of support, there is a sizeable number of Pakatan supporters who had voiced their dissatisfaction over Umno and DAP.
“This is a positive development for us. It remains to be seen whether these can be translated into votes for us,” said Bukhori.
Meanwhile, a source in Pakatan revealed that there was a tussle among Umno, Amanah and PKR for a few seats.
The source said besides getting to defend Sungai Dua and Permatang Berangan, which it won in the 2018 election, Umno has also set its sight on Bertam, Penaga, Teluk Bahang and Seberang Jaya.
Penaga is held by PAS while Bertam and Teluk Bahang were won by Bersatu candidates.
Dr Afif Bahardin, who has since jumped over to Bersatu, won Seberang Jaya under a PKR ticket.
The state seats of Bertam, Teluk Bahang and Seberang Jaya have since been declared vacant after their assemblymen broke Penang’s anti-hopping law.
The source said Amanah wanted Teluk Bahang while PKR wanted to retain Seberang Jaya which it won through Dr Afif.
“But after several rounds of negotiations, Umno is confident of fielding Datuk Shah Headan Ayoob Hussain in Teluk Bahang.
“Shah Headan won the seat in 2013, defeating PKR’s candidate Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain, but in 2018, he lost the seat to Bersatu’s Zolkifly Md Lazim who won with a 425-vote majority.”
