Bersatu to contest in 31 seats, Pas to run for 18 seats
KHAIRIL ANWAR MOHD AMIN
SHAH ALAM - Selangor Pas has revealed that the state election seat distribution for all Perikatan Nasional (PN) component parties has been completed with the party expecting to contest in 18 seats.
Selangor Pas secretary Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir said that Bersatu had agreed to run for a total of 31 seats in Selangor including some that will be contested by candidates from the party's ally wing.
He shared that a total of six state seats in mixed and urban areas will be contested by Gerakan whereas Pas non-Muslim wing, the Pas Supporters' Assembly Hall will be allocated one seat.
"Pas' focus in Selangor election this time is to win all 18 state assembly seats consisting of seats where the majority of Malay voters have a composition of 60 per cent and above.
"Bersatu gets more seats because they will compete in mixed state assembly seats and urban areas. The party will stake a candidate from the Bersatu ally wing," he told Sinar Premium on Friday.
He was commenting on PN's total distribution of Selangor election seats which was finalised by the component parties at the state level.
Roslan agreed with Selangor Bersatu chairman Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari that there are a total of 33 state seats with a majority of Malay voters which is PN's key to capturing Selangor from Pakatan Harapan (PH).
According to him, Selangor PN's target of winning 33 out of the total of 56 state seats is considered not impossible based on Pas' success of winning 42 out of 43 parliamentary seats with the composition of the majority of Malay voters exceeding 60 per cent in the 15th General Election (GE15).
"With PN needing at least 29 state assembly seats to get an easy majority to form a government in Selangor, the target of winning 33 state assembly seats with a majority of Malay voters of more than 60 percent is not impossible.
"Our political research shows that out of 43 parliamentary seats won by Pas in GE15, 42 of them were seats with Malay majority of over 60 per cent while one parliamentary seat in Hulu Langat, Selangor that we won had a percentage of Malay voters of below 60 per cent.
"If the result is taken into account, with the parliamentary seats held by 58 per cent of Malay voters in Selangor, even Pas can win. It is not impossible that state assembly seats with a majority of 60 per cent Malay voters and above will be dominated by Pas and PN.
"On top of that, the collaboration between Barisan Nasional (BN) and PH after GE15 is still rejected by the majority of Malay voters until now.
"I believe that factor adds value to the chances of Pas and PN winning in Selangor," he explained.
While the number of PN Selangor seat distributions had been revealed, Roslan Shahir insisted that the list of candidates competing in the six-state election would be announced on June 22.
According to him, Selangor PN also promised a surprise nominations of among several big names in politics and academic figures to represent the coalition in the upcoming election.
"I was informed that former Selangor BN chairman Tan Sri Noh Omar rejected the offer to run for the state election, but his daughter might represent PN later.
"Another surprise by PN is to bet on prominent professor-level academicians at public higher education institutions as our candidates.
"For big names like Arau Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, he is not on our list, but what is certain is that Pas will put forth 18 candidates with academic qualifications of at least master's degree, professionals from various fields and those who are younger than 60-years-old," he elaborated.
