GEORGE TOWN, June 11 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) hopes to win more seats in Penang in the upcoming state election in hopes of denying Pakatan Harapan (PH) the two-thirds majority that it has held since 2008.
Penang PN vice-chairman Oh Tong Keong said the coalition wanted to present a strong Opposition in Penang for a better check and balance.
“It is our goal to win more seats, especially in mixed seats and Malay majority seats, so that we can be a better Opposition in the state assembly,” he told Malay Mail n an interview.
Mixed seats refer to constituencies with an equal mix of all ethnicities among its voters.
Oh, who is also the Penang Gerakan chairman, said this will be the second time that Gerakan is working with Bersatu and PAS in an election.
He said they had worked well together during the 15th general election last year and that they will cooperate well again in the upcoming state polls.
“We will work together to secure more seats for PN and we are quite positive that we have strong support in Malay majority seats on the mainland and south-west side of the island,” he said.
As for Gerakan, Oh said the voters are now more receptive to them.
He said the party will be contesting in mostly urban seats in Penang which are non-Malay majority areas so it will not be easy.
He admitted that many non-Malay voters are strong DAP supporters so it will be hard for Gerakan to make inroads in those seats.
DAP currently holds 19 out of the 40 seats in Penang.
Oh said this does not mean it is a sure win for DAP as the final decision lies in the hands of the voters.
“We will never know with Penang voters, they might change at a whim, that was how we lost back in 2008 without any warning,” he said.
Penang was previously under the Gerakan administration, which was under Barisan Nasional (BN) at that time, before it lost the administration to DAP in 2008.
Meanwhile, Bersatu Kepala Batas division chief Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq said PN is targeting to win 15 seats in the state elections.
“We want to deny PH the two-thirds majority, so our target is a minimum of 15 seats,” he said.
He said PN has been working hard on the ground reaching out to voters in both rural and urban areas to win their support.
Khaliq, who was Penang PN state election director during GE15, said the people are feeling disillusioned with the current government under PH and BN.
“They are concerned about the increasing cost of living, increasing price of essential goods and the petrol price has not gone down too,” he said.
He said the fact that BN is now part of PH will be detrimental to PH as many of the voters are against BN due to graft cases against its leaders.
“People want to see changes in the new government but there were no changes, no new policies or formula to bring costs of living down,” he said.
He said Penang PN’s election machinery is now ready to face the state elections with seat negotiations being finalised soon.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has said that he will seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Penang Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak on June 27 to get consent for the dissolution of the state legislative assembly on June 28.
Penang has 40 state seats, and in the 14th general election, PH won 37, including two by Bersatu when it was still under PH, while BN won two, and PAS, one.
