KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 ― DAP’s Perak chapter today urged PAS to consider the state Pakatan Harapan’s formula to avoid three-cornered fights in the coming Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections.

In a statement, Perak DAP chairman Nga Kor Ming said the pact’s state chapter has agreed that Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and PAS should each be allowed to contest in either one of the polls to avoid clashes between the two.

“PAS should be rational and not be stubborn so as to ensure that we can achieve straight fights in both the parliamentary contests.

“Perak Pakatan Harapan has offered to allow Pakatan to stand in one seat while PAS gets to stand in the other. This open offer was the result of a unanimous agreement among Perak Pakatan’s partners,” he said.

Nga, who is Taiping MP, said if PAS was serious about wanting to trounce Umno, the Islamist party and former DAP ally should consider accepting the offer.

He said PAS should be well aware that its refusal to negotiate on the matter would lead to three-cornered fights in both seats and this could only bring benefit to Umno.

“And PAS will surely be seen as being in cahoots with Umno in an agenda to hurt the opposition,” he said.

In Election 2013, PAS was beaten in both seats by Barisan Nasional (BN) with marginal victories of just 399 votes in Sungai Besar and 1,082 votes in Kuala Kangsar.

Malay Mail Online reported last weekend that the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary by-elections could result in three-way fight with BN and a fractured opposition front.

A PKR leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a three-cornered fight involving PKR, BN and PAS may take place in Sungai Besar, Selangor, while another similar three-way battle could occur in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, with Amanah, BN and PAS all throwing their hats in the ring.

The Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar seats fell vacant after the deaths of their respective MPs, Datuk Wan Muhammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad and Datuk Noriah Kasnon, who were among six people killed in a recent helicopter crash in Sarawak.

The Election Commission announced last week that both the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections will take place on June 18.