State elections: Defence of 16 seats the minimum, while DAP seeks more seats

KLANG - Selangor DAP is intent on defending the 16 seats won during the 14th general election (GE14), and as such may seek to increase the number of seats contested in the upcoming Selangor state elections, even though it is working with Barisan Nasional this time around.

DAP Secretary General Anthony Loke Siew Fook said 16 seats were the minimum as those were won by DAP in Selangor during GE14 in May 2018.

“We held 16 seats and that is the minimum bar set for DAP contesting in the Selangor state election this year.

“Maybe we might add a seat if the Menteri Besar (Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari) agrees to it. That is why it’s (16 seats) the minimum,” he said during the 2023 Selangor State DAP Annual Convention at the Grand Centre Ballroom, here, on Saturday.

Also present were Selangor PH Chairman and Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin and Selangor DAP chairman Gobind Sing Deo as well as other Selangor DAP leaders.

He added that DAP was still in negotiations towards the division of seats from time to time before the candidate naming day ahead of state elections.

“We will discuss with the Menteri Besar and leadership, the negotiations will be done until the candidate naming is done,” the Transport Minister said.

Amirudin was confident in maintaining the coalition's rule in the state based on PH’s track record.

“I’m 2000 per cent sure we will feel confident in the state election (based) on our track record,” he said.

He informed Selangor PH’s achievement across all ballot boxes for Malay voters in some areas were quite high.

“PH recorded high Malay votes in Selangor, if not we couldn’t have won in areas such as Gombak and Ampang.

“In Hulu Selangor we won with a large majority in Kuala Kubu Baru, but we were still lacking in Batang Kali and Hulu Bernam and I think that can be improved with the unity government,” he said.