Seat allocations almost finalised
KUALA LUMPUR: About 70% of seat allocations within the Gagasan Sejahtera (Gagasan) coalition have been finalised, according to PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan.
While declining to disclose details, he said the other parties within the coalition – Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan), Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa) – were very cooperative during seat negotiations.
“There weren’t many problems during our negotiations. In fact, we are confident that it will be finalised in a couple more meetings.
“You can say that 70% of all federal and state seat allocations are settled. The rest will wait until Parliament passes the re-delineation exercise,” he told a press conference yesterday.
He said this when asked if seat negotiations for Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Selangor have been finalised.
Takiyuddin said the coalition would be contesting no less than 130 parliamentary seats, and that the number could increase should the coalition decide in its coming meetings.
PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the coalition’s manifesto themed “Malaysia Sejahtera” (Prosperous Malaysia), that would be unveiled this Sunday night, would address several issues that are of interest to the nonMuslim community as well.
He said Gagasan had also taken into account feedback from non-Muslim NGOs before drafting and finalising the manifesto.
“The main gripe of the rakyat is the cost of living, issues of security and national unity, which we consider the core issues affecting both Muslims and non-Muslims.
“Which is why we are hoping what we will be offering in the manifesto will be able to attract non-Muslim votes,” he told a press conference at its headquarters yesterday.
Tuan Ibrahim said PAS and Gagasan were also open to having non-Muslims run as candidates under their banner as long as they adhered to the principle of not betraying the rakyat.
“Anyone can be a candidate including (former Bersih 2.0 chairman) Maria Chin Abdullah, but they have to get the approval of all three components of Gagasan,” he said when asked if PAS was open to having Maria join their party.