KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the Opposition coalition has not given the Slim by-election candidacy to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his supporters.

Anwar, who is also the PKR president, said negotiations were ongoing and a decision should be known by Tuesday.

"They (Dr Mahathir’s team) asked for it (during a meeting). Because Bersatu is contesting in Slim, we do not want a split in the Opposition bloc. 

"They are not in PH, but we don’t want to be accused of making a decision without prior negotiations,” he said when met by reporters today after launching the Keadilan (PKR) Information Convention. 

Anwar was responding to claims that PH would make way for Dr Mahathir’s team to contest in the state constituency by-election in Perak. 

Bernama reported that former Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Marzuki Yahya said that Dr Mahathir’s group would be fielding a candidate, claiming that the decision was reached after a PH presidential council representative resulting in the coalition’s non-candidacy. 

The Election Commission (EC) has set voting for August 29, with nomination on August 15.

The seat fell vacant after Datuk Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib, 59, died of a heart attack on July 15.

Mohd Khusairi, who represented Barisan Nasional, had retained the seat with a majority of 2,183 votes in the 2018  general election in a three-cornered contest against Bersatu’s Mohd Amran Ibrahim and PAS’ Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal.