Anwar will continue as Opposition leader in Parliament — Kit Siang

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will continue as the Opposition leader in Parliament, although DAP won more seats than his Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) party.

DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang said this was the consensus of the opposition’s allies after the DAP won 38 seats, PKR ( 30) and PAS ( 21) in Sunday’s 13th General Election (GE13).

“This is in keeping with our commitment that he will lead the Pakatan Rakyat government, whether in waiting or in Putrajaya,” said the Gelang Patah member of parliament in a press conference at the DAP’s head office here yesterday.

Meanwhile, DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke said the party would petition the Election Commission to chal lenge the results for three parliamentary seats, namely Bentong and Cameron Highlands in Pahang, and Labis in Johor.

DAP lost the Bentong seat to MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai with 376 majority votes, Cameron Highlands to MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel ( 462 majority votes) and Labis to MCA central committee member Datuk Chua Tee Yong ( 353 majority votes).

On another development, PJ Utara MP Tony Pua said the increased number of seats which Pakatan had captured in Selangor, especially in the semi- rural constituencies in the general election yesterday, showed that the party was supported not just by the Chinese, but also Malays and Indians.

He said this was evident, especially in the non- Chinese majority seats that it contested such as in Sungai Pelek and Telok Datuk in Selangor.

The Pakatan Rakyat i n Selangor had won 44 state seats while BN only won 12.

“The resounding victory by Pakatan Rakyat is a ringing endorsement by the people in Selangor to our five years in power where the state government has rolled out massive amounts of people- centric programmes via “Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor,” as well as, proving our competence in a clean and transparent state administration,” he said. — Bernama