Ledang Member of Parliament, Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (right) at a press conference in Parliament Building, December 9, 2021. — Bernama pic
JOHOR BARU, Feb 19 — PKR considers the issue of seat negotiations with the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) settled and will now focus on ensuring their candidates win in the upcoming Johor state election.
Johor PKR chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said with the discussions closed, he hopes that Muda will have an open approach and focus on the six seats that they will be contesting in.
“We have (an understanding for) cooperation, Muda also has cooperation in terms of seats with Pakatan Harapan (PH) through DAP and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah).
“We are also part of PH. So, there is no need to announce that if we can’t negotiate, then we will clash.
“I believe that that’s the wrong attitude to have. There is a need to have a ‘gentleman’s understanding’ approach to this.
“So, there is no need for them (Muda) to make such a statement,” Syed Ibrahim told reporters after PKR’s state election candidate announcement event at the Kampung Kopok Baru multipurpose hall in Pasir Gudang today.
The Ledang MP was responding to Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s statement yesterday that his party will not hesitate to clash with PKR after both parties failed to find a consensus on seat negotiations.
In the statement, Syed Saddiq said official negotiations between the two parties have ended after PKR announced all 20 candidates for the upcoming general election.
He hinted at the possibility of Muda clashing with PKR after both sides failed to reach an agreement.
This created a heated situation where PKR leaders later criticised Syed Saddiq and Muda, blaming the deadlocked negotiations for alleged unreasonable seat demands by the new upstarts.
Initially, PKR was to only contest 17 seats, where three were agreed to be ceded to Muda.
However, negotiations turned heated after Muda allegedly wanted the coveted seats of Larkin, Kempas and Gambir, but instead were offered the Tanjung Surat, Sri Medan and Semarang seats, three rural seats which are Umno strongholds.
PKR today officially announced all 20 of their candidates to contest in the state polls. For the upcoming Johor election scheduled for March 12, PKR will contest 20 seats.
The Election Commission (EC) has set March 12 as polling day, with nomination day on February 26, while early voting is on March 8.