TANJUNG KARANG, May 7 — Umno and PAS will avoid contesting in the same seats in Selangor in the 15th general election (GE15), with the hope of ousting Pakatan Harapan (PH), said Selangor Umno chief Tan Sri Noh Omar.

He said that in principle, the two parties had already discussed allocation of seats in Selangor even before Perikatan Nasional (PN) was formed.

"If Umno contests in a Parliament seat, state seats must have PAS and vice versa, to avoid clashes between the two parties,” he told a press conference after the Tanjung Karang parliamentary constituency Aidilfitri open house here today.

With this strategy, Umno and PAS were targeting to win at least 30 of the 56 state seats up for grabs in Selangor, he said.

Noh, who is Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister, hoped that the top leaderships of both parties would agree to this arrangement.

Meanwhile, Selangor PAS commissioner Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi said that in Selangor, the enemy of PAS and Umno is PH.

"GE14 showed that both Umno and PAS had their own voter bases. If we display this commonality and unity to the people, we can topple PH. Three-cornered fights will take us nowhere,” he said.

Asked whether PAS is prepared to clash with Bersatu in Selangor, he said this is for the highest level of the party leadership to decide.

PAS and Bersatu are part of PN while Umno leads Barisan Nasional. 

In Kota Baru, PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said there was no necessity to call for a snap GE15 as the government should focus on other more important matters.

"There is post-pandemic recovery in the health, economic and social spheres, so the current government should be given a chance to continue working on this,” said Takiyuddin.

The Energy and Natural Resources Minister was speaking to reporters after holding an Aidilfitri open house in Kampung Sireh today. — Bernama