KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Any reports of political parties within the unity government giving up seats to allies for the upcoming state elections is “speculative at best”, as discussions within the unity government are still ongoing, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said today.
Fahmi, who is the spokesman for the unity government, noted that the unity government’s committee handling negotiations on seat allocations for the state elections have not made any announcements.
“I don’t know who FMT was speaking to. I, for one, have not received any information to that end.
“We have the appropriate channel for discussion, the platforms, for example, we have a special committee under the unity government secretariat that is overseeing the entire process of seat negotiation.
“As far as we are concerned, as far as the secretariat is concerned, there has been no announcement, so I would put that article as possibly speculative at best,” he told reporters after his ministry’s appreciation dinner for the media.
Asked if this means that there is no decision yet on the seat negotiations among parties in the unity government, Fahmi affirmed that the lack of an announcement meant that discussions were still ongoing.
“Nothing has been announced. So as long as nothing has been announced, things would still be under discussion. So the discussions have not ended, no formal announcements have been made. So anything that you read about whether any party is giving way or making way, right now, that is speculative at best,” he said.
Fahmi was responding to a question regarding news portal FreeMalaysiaToday’s (FMT) report, which cited sources claiming that the unity government’s component parties DAP and PKR would be giving some safe seats in Selangor to Barisan Nasional (BN) to contest in during the state election due to be held this year. BN is also part of the unity government.
One of the sources in the FMT report also suggested Umno’s move to have DAP and PKR members sit on Melaka’s executive council — after the Melaka state government was changed from a BN government to a unity government — is a “prelude” to what could be expected in the Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Penang state elections.
