PAGOH: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has defended his Perikatan Nasional's decision to allow PAS to contest the lion's share of seats in the upcoming state polls.
The Perikatan chairman and Pagoh MP said there was no such thing as "big brother, little brother" within the coalition.
"PAS was established much earlier than Bersatu and they have many incumbents in states holding elections soon.
"PAS is also in power in states such as Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah," he said after handing over 52 cows to villages in the Pagoh parliamentary in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidiladha at Bukit Pasir here on Saturday (June 24).
He added that the seat allocation among coalition parties took into consideration PAS incumbents who won seats during the 14th General Election (GE14).
"We do not call each other 'big brother' or 'little brother'. I am Bersatu president and Perikatan chairman supported by PAS and it does not matter who leads as long as we have the same aims and struggles.
"The seat allocation is fair. PAS has more seats in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah while Bersatu will be contesting more seats in Selangor and Negri Sembilan," he added.
On Thursday (June 22), Muhyiddin announced that Perikatan would contest 245 seats in the six state elections.
He added the coalition had agreed to allocate 126 seats for PAS, Bersatu (83) and Gerakan (36).
He also said that Perikatan would contest 36 seats in Kedah, Kelantan (45), Terengganu (32), Penang (40), Selangor (56) and Negri Sembilan (36).
"The number of seats contested where Perikatan does not have incumbents are 64 for Bersatu, PAS (50) and Gerakan (36)," he said.
The state elections will likely be held in August as five states have announced dissolution dates – Kelantan on June 22, Selangor (June 23), Kedah and Penang (June 28) and Negri (June 30).
Terengganu is expected to announce the dissolution of its state assembly soon.
