GEORGE TOWN, July 26 — Gerakan president Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai is expected to be fielded in the Bayan Lepas seat in Penang in the upcoming August 12 state polls, amid speculation that his party is gunning for one of the state seats under the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary constituency.

Yesterday, Tasek Gelugor PAS Youth vice-chief Mohamad Ikhwan Afiq Mohamad Anwar issued a warning aimed at Lau to “stay out of contesting in Malay seats”.

The PAS man warned that the division will field its own independent candidates in Telok Ayer Tawar and Permatang Berangan if those seats were distributed to Gerakan and Bersatu, which are the Islamist party’s partners in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

When asked to comment on this, Lau said the candidates chosen by PN will be based on their capabilities.

“We do not want to select candidates based on race or religion, we are more focused on selecting winnable candidates for each seat,” the Penang PN chairman said at the launch of the Pantai Jerejak election centre.

Gerakan will field 19 candidates in Penang while Bersatu plans to field 11 candidates, and PAS, 10.

Lau said the disagreements on the selection of candidates is normal.

“This happens in other parties too, look at DAP yesterday,” he said, referring to reports of some upsets when its political rival announced its Penang candidates.

He labelled the warning by Tasek Gelugor PAS youth as “differences in opinions” and miscommunication.

“This is the first time we are working together in six state elections so there are bound to be differences and miscommunications,” he said.

He said it will take time for them to iron out the differences and to improve communications between parties within the coalition.

He said they will try to resolve any issues between the parties internally instead of voicing it publicly through the media.

“Let us resolve this internally first,” he said.

When asked if he will be fielded in Bayan Lepas, Lau neither deny nor confirm it.

“Wait for the official announcement tonight,” he said.

PN is scheduled to announce its list of candidates for Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan at each respective state simultaneously tonight.