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Opposition still bickering over seats in many places
BN sure of bagging 15 extra seats as opposition squabbles
April 13, 2013: Our 40th wedding anniversary in Liverpool (VIDEO INSIDE)

Opposition still bickering over seats in many places

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 04:04 PM PDT

NO AGREEMENT: It shows they are not capable of running the country, says UUM don

(NST) - EVEN as it draws near to nomination day, the loose opposition coalition comprising PKR, DAP and Pas still cannot resolve the seat allocation issue and this may force them to contest against each other.

Universiti Utara Malaysia political analyst Prof Datuk Dr Mustafa Ishak opines that this reflects badly on Pakatan Rakyat as it was considered "old hand" when it comes to elections.

"They claim they can govern the nation. How can they do that if they cannot even resolve the most basic thing in a general election?" he said.

Barisan Nasional, on the other hand, has achieved a consensus in terms of the allocation of seats despite having 13 component parties.

"This is the real problem Pakatan is facing -- the possibility of three-cornered or multi-cornered fights among them underscores that there is no better formula than the one practised by BN."

He added that BN leaders did not squabble openly and the swapping of seats among them was for strategic purposes, so only one component party could represent BN in a particular seat.

"But in the case of Pakatan, every single party wants to gain maximum benefit and the maximum number of seats to determine who can lead the coalition post-general election," Mustafa explained.

Since the opposition did not have a clear agreement or arrangement on who should lead the coalition, Mustafa said this had prompted it to make a decision based on the number of seats each party was contesting.

"If PKR wins more seats, it will head the coalition.

"If DAP wins more, it will call the shots. Same goes to Pas," he added.

Pakatan is embroiled in seat allocation disputes in several states.

In Perlis, animosity is brewing between PKR and DAP over the Indera Kayangan state seat, where both have refused to budge on who should be contesting.

In Penang, the opposition is facing a similar problem with the Sungai Aceh state seat where PKR and Pas had both announced their respective candidates.

Meanwhile in Johor, the squabbling on seat allocation is still not over, with both PKR and DAP adamant on contesting the Johor Jaya state seat.

DAP had gone ahead and announced its candidate and this had angered many state PKR leaders also vying for the seat.

Apart from Johor Jaya, two other state seats -- Pengkalan Rinting and Tangkak -- are also being eyed by both parties.

There is also a tussle for seats in Sarawak with DAP staking a claim to predominantly Dayak areas -- Mambong and Sri Aman -- which PKR had also expressed its intention to contest.

Problems may also arise between PKR and DAP as the latter also wants to contest in Mas Gading, Bintulu and Kapit.

To complicate matters, Pas has also joined in the fray by naming candidates to contest in Kota Samarahan and Julau.

DAP has also reportedly refused to budge in the Chinese-majority seats of Stampin and Miri.

Trouble is also brewing over seat allocation involving opposition-friendly Parti Sosialis Malaysia, which is adamant in contesting under its own banner this time around in seats that PKR had claimed.

(PSM could not contest using its own logo in previous elections as the party was not registered then.)

In a statement, its secretary-general S. Arutchelvan said PKR could not claim rights to the Semenyih and Kota Damansara state seats, and Sungai Siput parliamentary seat as no PKR members had ever stood there in previous elections.

BN sure of bagging 15 extra seats as opposition squabbles

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 03:58 PM PDT

(ST) - Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) is confident of reaping a bonus of 15 federal seats due to infighting in the opposition camp, bringing the total it can win from 160 to 175 seats, according to coalition information chief Ahmad Maslan.

Mr Ahmad claimed party intelligence indicated multi-cornered fights in the 15 parliamentary constituencies where opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat (PR) component parties have ostensibly failed to resolve the deadlocks in its seat allocation talks, the Malaysian Insider reported.

"Our latest intel is indicating that we could add 11 more seats where Pakatan have failed to resolve the negotiations so there is a huge possibility that we would have multi-cornered fights there.

"On the same note, we can also win four more in Sabah and Sarawak," he told a press conference at Umno's headquarters here on Saturday.

Mr Ahmad had previously said BN was confident of restoring its parliamentary supermajority by winning 160 seats. The coalition won 140 of the 222 federal seats it contested in 2008. It needed just eight more to take two-thirds control of the House.

He said BN was confident of recapturing 5 seats each from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), which together won 51 seats, while it expects to retake 10 of the 31 seats PKR won in Election 2008.

"The 140 seats we won were during the 'political tsunami'. As I said before, the tsunami has ended. It was stopped by Najib's many initiatives like BR1M, PR1M, KR1M and many more," he said, referring to the programmes benefiting the lower income group initiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who chairs the BN.

In the last election 2008, which was dubbed Malaysia's "political tsunami", saw BN lose its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority and cede four more states - Perak, Penang, Kedah and Selangor - to the loose opposition pact of PKR, PAS and the DAP that later formed Pakatan Rakyat (PR). PAS had also retained Kelantan.

Earlier this week, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he expects BN to score a bigger parliamentary majority in Election 2013 than in 2008 with the "possibility" of the ruling coalition regaining a supermajority.

He also said in an interview with Malay-language broadsheet Utusan Malaysia published on Saturday that BN had a 50-50 chance of retaking Kelantan and Penang, and slightly higher chances at 55-45 in winning back Kedah and Selangor in the 13th general election.

Mr Ahmad's statement comes as PR component parties are struggling to settle differences on seat-sharing for the May 5 election.

In one instance of this, the Insider report said, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was forced to cancel the announcement of PKR's candidates list for Sabah, a state key to PR's push for federal power.

April 13, 2013: Our 40th wedding anniversary in Liverpool (VIDEO INSIDE)

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 02:59 PM PDT