SEBERANG PERAI, April 20 ― Penang PAS said it will contest in the Sungai Pinang state seat last night, joining DAP, Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Gerakan and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) in the race.

Penang PAS state commissioner Fauzi Yusoff, who announced the Islamist party’s list of candidates in Penang, said this is the one seat in Penang that PAS will try to snatch from former ally DAP.

“The candidate we picked to contest in the seat was a former city councillor and he is Yaacob Omar,” he said when announcing the party’s candidates for Penang in Pongsu Seribu here.

PAS will contest 18 state and six parliamentary seats in Penang, mostly in constituencies with majority Muslim-Malay voters except for Sungai Pinang and Pantai Jerejak on the island, Bukit Tengah and Sungai Bakap on the mainland.

Sungai Pinang's voters are about 31 per cent Malay while the balance are ethnic Chinese (54 per cent) and ethnic Indians (14 per cent) voters while Pantai Jerejak is approximately 39 per cent Malay, 49 per cent ethnic Chinese and 11 per cent ethnic Indians.

Similarly, Bukit Tengah is 36 per cent Malay, 46 per cent ethnic Chinese and 18 per cent ethnic Indians; Sungai Bakap is primarily Malay (57 per cent) with the Chinese and Indians at 25 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

The Sungai Pinang seat under the Jelutong parliamentary constituency previously saw a three-corner fight between DAP, Gerakan and an independent candidate in 2013 but DAP incumbent Lim Siew Khim defended the seat with a 4,707-vote majority.

Now, PAS is not only going up against DAP but also incumbent Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu, who is contesting under PSM's banner, and Gerakan, making it a four-corner fight for the urban seat that is located very near to George Town.

There is also talk that state Gerakan chairman and Penang BN chairman Teng Chang Yeow will also contest here.

There will also be four-corner fights in Bukit Tengah and Sungai Bakap between PAS, BN, PKR and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).

PKR has held both seats for two terms after wresting it from BN’s Gerakan in 2008.

In 2013, PAS had contested in two parliamentary and six state seats in Penang when it was still with the then Pakatan Rakyat.

PAS previously contested against BN in Kepala Batas and Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seats and this time, the party is also running in Permatang Pauh, Nibong Tebal, Bayan Baru and Balik Pulau parliamentary seats to go against both BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH) components.

The other state seats that PAS will be contesting this election are Bertam, Pinang Tunggal, Teluk Ayer, Seberang Jaya, Penanti, Batu Maung, Pulau Betong and Teluk Bahang.

These are in addition to the seats PAS contested in previously: Penaga, Permatang Berangan, Sungai Dua, Permatang Pasir, Sungai Acheh and Bayan Lepas.

Many of the candidates PAS picked are professionals, some of which have post-graduate degrees in various disciplines.

“We chose a line-up of professional and young leaders so as to serve the people better so we hope that we can get the people’s support,” Fauzi said.

Fauzi will defend the party’s only seat in Penang ― Permatang Pasir ― this election.

Permatang Pasir incumbent Datuk Salleh Man, who had remained supportive of the Pakatan Harapan state government despite PAS’ split from the Opposition coalition, was dropped as a candidate this time around.