Kedah state election: PH and BN should not act like 'big brothers'

ALOR SETAR - Parties in the Unity Government including Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) should stop acting like 'big brothers' or act more dominant in deciding the seat distribution if the coalition continues in the state elections this year.

Kedah PH chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar said the political parties in the Unity Government should embrace reality and stay open-minded should there be a need to reduce the number of state legislative assembly (DUN) seats contested in comparison to the previous general election (GE).

He said should the two parties collaborate in the upcoming state elections, it meant that there would be no party that could have a majority for the DUN seats.

"Everyone must be open-minded and accept the fact that each party in this coalition must reduce the number of seats contested and not compete as 'big brothers' and a fair distribution should take place.

"PH underwent this process before and now BN will face the same," he said when met here on Friday.

Mahfuz emphasised that an initial meeting between the top leaders of PH and BN at the state level has begun, but no official negotiations were made to discuss the state election.

"I hope negotiation to face the state election will begin after 2022 Umno general assembly (PAU) ended, as the central PH has announced the state can start discussing preparations for the state election including the distribution of seats," he said.

However, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) vice president did not rule out the possibility of different opinions regarding the seat distribution process involving BN and PH Kedah, as a new coalition.

Mahfuz said it was a normal occurrence and each party should be generous and lower their egos.

"We have no specific guidelines for negotiations because it depends on the leaders' wisdom and the different political culture of each state," he stressed.

Mahfuz added the two coalitions are now actively implementing a continuous explanation process to the grassroots regarding the unity government alliance.

On Monday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said there was no official discussion with BN on seat distribution that would be contested by the two coalitions in the state election at the six states.

However, Anwar, who is also PH chairman, said there was no obstacle for the party's leadership at the state level to conduct a discussion with BN regarding the matter.

Apart from Kedah, five other states namely Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu and Kelantan have not yet held PRN simultaneously with the 15th General Election (GE15) held in November last year.