Penang Umno-PH seat allocation not finalised yet

GEORGETOWN - Discussions on seat allocation between Penang Umno and Pakatan Harapan (PH) have not been finalised despite a second meeting that was held.

Penang Umno chairman Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir said the second meeting at the Penang PH Office was held on May 20.

"We had a second meeting on May 20 which went on for about two hours. The meeting was to deliberate on the distribution of seats.

"However, there is no final decision yet, there are a few more matters, including the issue of overlapping seats, that must be reviewed," he said when contacted on Monday.

He said a third meeting is expected to be held to discuss this matter at the end of this month.

"There will indeed be a third (meeting) because there are still some things that have not been concluded yet.

"The meeting is expected to be held at the end of this month or early next month," he said.

Previously, Penang PH and Umno had held a meeting to discuss the distribution of seats and issues related to the state polls.

However, no final decision was reached in the meeting.

Penang PH and Umno have also reached an agreement not to compete against each other in the upcoming polls.

The decision was made in the first official meeting held between the two coalition parties on May 2.

Three weeks ago, Penang PH chairman Chow Kon Yeow confirmed that BN would be given the opportunity to defend its two incumbent seats in Penang.

He said the decision in the Central DAP Executive Committee meeting held two weeks ago was that all seats would return to their respective incumbent parties.

Chow also said that based on the agreed principle that all seats will return to the incumbent party, PH will not request seats from Umno or BN.

Penang has 40 State Legislative Assembly seats, and in the 2018 General Election, PH won 37 seats when Bersatu was still part of PH.

BN has two seats, while Pas won one seat, which is Penaga.

After Bersatu left the PH coalition, two PKR assemblymen were dismissed from the party and later joined Bersatu, which resulted in the four seats—Seberang Jaya, Sungai Acheh, Teluk Bahang and Bertam—falling under Perikatan Nasional (PN).

However, they were expelled from the State Legislative Assembly last March after the House passed a motion forcing them to vacate their seats in accordance with the anti-party hopping law.