GEORGE TOWN – Penang Pakatan Harapan (PH) chief Chow Kon Yeow has dismissed the notion that the coalition and its partner Barisan Nasional (BN) had fielded a poor choice of candidates for the state election, leading to the alliance nearly losing its supermajority in the state assembly.
PH-BN only secured 29 out of the 40 state seats compared to the last election, in which then-rivals Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional won 37 and two seats respectively.
Chow, who is also Penang DAP chairman, noted that the party won with all its 19 candidates, so he does not think that the choice of candidates is the main issue.
Rather, the general political challenges and sentiments caused PH-BN to lose up to nine seats this time, Chow told a press conference in the state capital.
Many of the PKR candidates on the mainland lost their seats – including Sg Bakap candidate Nurhidayah Che Ros, who lost to Nor Zamri Latiff of Perikatan Nasional.
Meanwhile, state PKR deputy chief Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said that PH-BN leaders would meet soon to discuss who could assume the first deputy chief minister post, which is traditionally held by PKR.
“It is our position, so I think PKR would want to keep it,” Bakhtiar said.
He said the extremist sentiments propelled by racial and religious issues had drawn a wedge between voters on the mainland and PH-BN.
This divide caused the coalition to lose many votes, Bakhtiar added. – The Vibes, August 12, 2023
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