GEORGE TOWN, Aug 24 — Penang DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow today disclosed that submissions to the state party leadership did not get enough women candidates to meet its 30 per cent gender quota.

Chow, who is also Penang chief minister, hopes to still be able to fulfill the 30 per cent quota for women.

"I regret that despite encouraging them to meet this quota, sometimes the names submitted are less than the 30 per cent gender quota,” he told a news conference here.

The DAP has a 30 per cent women quota for its central executive committee.

The DAP-led Penang government had sought to increase the number of women representatives in the state legislative assembly as far back as 2020 through an initiative called "Top-Up Women Only Additional Seats”.

Two days ago, Chow confirmed that the Penang DAP committee had received a list of 30 new names as potential candidates for the 15th general election.

He said the candidates did not include incumbent assemblymen and that they will be vetted through interviews by a five-member panel that he will lead.

Today, he said the interviews with both genders to identify and groom potential leaders are ongoing and will be announced at a later date.

"We need a few more days to complete the interviews and discuss,” he added.

Chow also told reporters that negotiations to decide candidates for GE15 at the state level are still ongoing among the Pakatan Harapan (PH) component parties.

"If the state level discussions cannot agree on the seat allocations, we will have to refer to the PH national leadership,” he said.

He reiterated that Penang PH has issued letters to all component parties to start discussions on seat allocations.