KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 ― It is “still too early” for PAS to hold any seat negotiations with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia for the 14th general elections, the Islamist party’s elections director Datuk Mustafa Ali said.
He pointed out that the newest Umno splinter group chaired by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin have yet to be formally recognised by the Registrar of Societies, Sinar Harian reported today.
“Even with PKR, we did not have any discussions on it. Besides, Bersatu has not been approved as a party. It is still too early,” he was quoted saying by the Malay daily.
On Saturday, Parti Pribumi’s protem president Muhyiddin said his party is looking to contest in several PAS and PKR areas and would be looking to negotiate deals with both parties.
The aim is for the new party to be a part of a coalition to remove Barisan Nasional (BN) from power and form a new government, Muhyiddin added.
Most of the seats contested by PKR in past elections were urban and semi-urban areas with a highly mixed demographic, but the party also went for rural Malay-majority constituencies that PAS failed to win previously.
PAS had been in the Pakatan Rakyat opposition bloc with PKR and DAP, formed in the aftermath of the landmark Election 2008, but exited last year due to an ideological clash over its insistence on enforcing the Shariah penal code for Kelantan, which it rules.
The divorce prompted fears that votes for the opposition may be divided, hampering its aims be a formidable opponent to take over federal control from the BN which has enjoyed uninterrupted rule since independence in 1957.
