SHAH ALAM, July 9 — The seat distribution between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) for the upcoming state elections has been completed with BN allocated more than 20 per cent of the 56 seats contested, said Selangor Harapan chairman Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
Amirudin, who is also the Menteri Besar, said the seat distribution was agreed upon by Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“Therefore, the remaining seats will be contested by Harapan candidates and this will be decided after taking into account the seats held by the party before the dissolution of the state assembly.
“The current political situation, latest strength between parties in the Unity Government coalition as well as the accessibility to combine the strengths of both parties are among the factors in determining the seat distribution,” he said during an exclusive interview with Bernama.
Taking into account all these factors, Amirudin said the distribution was well-received by both parties.
Previously, BN was reported to be aiming to contest at least 14 seats in the polls, taking into account Harapan’s position which won 16 of the 22 parliamentary seats in Selangor in the 15th General Election (GE15) in November last year.
In the GE14 in 2018, BN won four state seats, namely Sungai Air Tawar, Sungai Burong, Sungai Panjang and Hulu Bernam before wresting the Semenyih seat from Harapan in the 2019 by-election.
Regarding the candidates to be fielded by Harapan, Amirudin said the list is still being studied and needs several more series of discussions at the state level before the candidates with the winning criteria be able to maintain the momentum of the service of Harapan’s representatives throughout the administration of the state are finalised.
He also gave assurance that in addition to retaining the incumbents, Harapan will also introduce several new faces including representatives of women, youth, politicians, and professionals.
“As I have mentioned before, we will try to balance between candidates who have long contributed to the constituency or locality they represent and also, at the same time, introduce new faces, for the continuity of the Harapan administration in Selangor,” Amirudin said.
Selangor has a total of 3,747,057 voters and will hold polls simultaneously with five other states, namely Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, and Negeri Sembilan on August 12.
In GE14, Selangor Harapan secured 51 seats, followed by BN and PAS with four and one seat respectively.
The composition of the state assembly before the dissolution of the state assembly sees Harapan holding 40 seats (PKR-19, DAP-15, Amanah-six), BN (five), Bersatu (four), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) (two), while PAS, Pejuang, and Warisan have one each, along with one Independent representative.
Another seat in Batang Kali, however, was declared vacant after its elected representative Harumanis Omar failed to attend the State Legislative Assembly sitting for over six months.
— Bernama
