SHAH ALAM – DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has expressed that the party is upset with Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s decision to hand over the Dusun Tua State Legislative Assembly seat held by DAP to a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the state election, next month.
According to an online news portal, Loke said he however he had to accept the decision as it has been finalised.
The Transport Minister added that he would discuss the matter in the PH Presidential Council on Monday.
"Maybe there would be conditions in exchange in place.
"However, we are not satisfied, the party leadership and grassroots are upset with the decision,” he said.
BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Friday announced that the party would contest in 12 Selangor state seats for the state polls on Aug 12.
The candidate for the Dusun Tua state assembly that BN fielded was Datuk Johan Abd Aziz while Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin will be contesting in the Gombak Setia state assembly.
In the 14th General Election (GE14), the Dusun Tua state seat was won by Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof from DAP with a majority of 10,422 votes against Mohd Zin (BN) and Razaly Hassan (Pas).
There were 56 seats in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly and before the dissolution, PH held 40 seats (PKR-19, DAP-15, Amanah – six), BN (five), Bersatu (four) Pejuang and Warisan each held a single seat and a seat was held by an independent representative.
Loke said the Dusun Tua state assembly was among the seats that PH and BN have been negotiating on for the Selangor election, but he did not make any decision on the handing over of the seat.
"That is a seat that was deadlocked, which meant that we had no decision on it and we did not make any, but finally the decision was made by the PH and BN chairmen.
"Anwar has given two Selangor state seats to BN, making the total number of seats contested by BN in the state to 12 seats that were the Dusun Tua seat held by DAP and Gombak Setia held by PKR,” he said.