KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Gerakan reportedly said it aims to contest at least five seats in the upcoming Johor state election, said its Johor chief Datuk Teo Kok Chee.

English daily The Star reported that Gerakan has submitted a list of seats it was keen on contesting to the Perikatan Nasional (PN) central leadership.

"We hope to contest the Perling, Bukit Batu, Puteri Wangsa, Pekan Nenas and Johor Jaya seats. We feel we might have a higher chance of winning in these seats.

"The party’s list has also been submitted to its central leadership to decide. Perikatan will also submit its candidates to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and police for screening.

"So far, all shortlisted Gerakan candidates have clean records, but we will wait for the authorities report,” Teo was quoted as saying.

So far, Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) has announced its secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz will contest Puteri Wangsa.

PKR has announced that Tebrau PKR secretary Chiong Sen Sern will contest Bukit Batu.

Johor Jaya, Perling and Pekan Nenas are all currently held by DAP.

On February 11, Gerakan president Datuk Dominic Lau had said that the party would contest a maximum of 10 seats at the state polls.

"In GE14, we contested two state seats and one parliamentary seat. In this election, we would be getting more seats. Seat allocation has been finalised and the exact number will be announced by Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin soon.

"For now, we can only reveal that there will be more seats compared to GE14 but fewer than 10 seats,” he said

Nomination day for the Johor state polls falls on February 26. Polling day will take place on March 12.