ALOR SETAR, Sept 4 — PAS election director Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor today set 80 out of 222 parliamentary seats as the party’s quota for the 15th general election.

He added that the target is to win at least half of the seats contested so that the Islamist party cannot be sidelined by other parties in forming the federal government.

"If we win 40 seats, no party can form government without PAS,” he told delegates on the last day of the 68th PAS annual congress here.

Sanusi, who is also Kedah mentri besar, said PAS is assessing the readiness of its election machinery in each constituency to gauge the best possible outcome in GE15.

He added that those deemed not ready will be dropped from the party’s consideration in negotiating which seats to contest with the rest of the Perikatan Nasional component parties — Bersatu, Gerakan and PBRS from Sabah.

Sanusi said that having more PAS MPs would bolster the Islamist party’s objective to have one of their own be prime minister by 2050. He pointed out that PAS currently has 17 MPs, of which three are ministers and eight are deputy ministers.

"We have influenced many policies for the benefit of the people. Imagine what we can do with 40 MPs.

"Whoever is alive in 2050, they would see a prime minister from PAS,” he said to resounding applause from some 1,300 delegates present.

Last night, PAS vice-president Datuk Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah listed the party’s three objectives for GE15.

The first is to win 40 parliamentary seats; the second to defend the three PAS-led state governments of Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu; lastly, to ensure it is still a member of the federal government after GE15. In Election 2018, PAS contested in 160 seats and won 18 — nine of them in Kelantan — under the banner of Gagasan Sejahtera, a coalition it cobbled together with other little known parties.