PAKATAN Harapan and Barisan Nasional have agreed to not contest against each other in the forthcoming Penang state polls.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the coalitions have decided to work together to ensure a big win for the unity government partners.
“We have heard each other’s input and will take it back to our respective coalitions to discuss before … the next round of discussions. It will be an ongoing process until there is nothing else to iron out,” he was quoted as saying to reporters during a press conference at his office in Komtar today (May 2).
Chow, who is also the state Pakatan chairman, said he was given the mandate by both PH and BN to speak about the meeting between the two on Monday (May 1) evening.
Chow said Pakatan had reiterated that incumbents would contest in their respective seats unless circumstances dictated otherwise.
“Both of us (PH and BN) have agreed to this and we will continue discussions after what (we) agreed upon is taken back to our respective leaderships. It has been a success so far but does not determine the allocation of seats,” he remarked.
“At this stage it is just UMNO (in the discussions) although we did stress that all component parties should be involved. For now, we are focused on the Malay-majority seats in the state.”
According to news reports, Penang UMNO was represented by its state chief Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir, deputy chief Datuk Dr Shaikh Hussein Mydin and UMNO election department chief Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, among others.
Meanwhile, Chow, former Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Penang DAP secretary Lim Hui Ying represented PH.
Penang is one of six states in which elections to the state assembly must be held in the weeks after June. The other states are PH-led Selangor and Negri Sembilan, as well as opposition-ruled Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. – May 2, 2023
Main pic credit: Harian Metro
