PKR Youth wants 30% of the seats the party is going to contest in the coming elections, incoming party youth chief Adam Adli said.

According to Adam, he was confident the wing can win every seat it is allowed to contest.

He told The Malaysian Insight that the wing had started drawing up its list of potential candidates, 10% of which had already been selected.

“We are looking to get 30% of the seats to contest. We have already got 10% of those candidates, for Parliament and state seats.

“We have to work hard and double our efforts. We are going into (the elections) to win,” he said.

It is uncertain how many seats PKR will contest in the next general election, because it has yet to discuss allocation with its Pakatan Harapan partners and other allies.

There are 222 parliamentary seats and 600 state seats.

Adam added veteran politicians should give way to younger candidates, adding he would continue raising the issue with PKR leadership until he gets the desired 30% share.

“We expect to be given this and if we don’t, then we will take it to the party leadership.

“This is because we want to talk about the youth (roles), we want to talk about new approaches and we want to talk about the party.

“So, this is the chance we have in the elections.”

Adam said he was confident that party leaders would collectively agree to the wing’s request.

“The decisions are made by everyone (in leadership). No decision is made (by one person). This is the right time for young leaders to rise.”

“PKR never had any issues in putting the youth in the forefront. This is the party’s tradition and pride,” he said.

However, Adam said that at the moment he was unsure if he would stand anywhere.

“Given the chance, I will take up the responsibility. It is a challenge, not a reward, but I prefer to focus on how to ensure that the party wins the election.

“If it means I will have to stay out in order to focus on the elections, then so be it. I’m more than happy to do that.”

Seeking out suitable candidates

Adam said the youth wing had plenty of suitable candidates to make up the 30% for which it is asking.

“We have identified some people during the party polls. After this we will be conducting more meetings in various states and launching the machinery.

“We have a lot of young people in Selangor, Perak, Perlis and Sabah. Our candidates need not necessarily be from the state chapters. They can also come from divisions.”

Political parties have already started their campaigns for GE15, while waiting for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to decide on the date.

Many are expecting the Bera MP, who is under pressure from his Umno party, to call snap polls this year, even though the current term has another 12 months left to run, expiring on July 16, 2022.

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the party has started its campaigns for GE15, after PH got its Jelajah Selangor campaign off the ground in Morib, Banting, last week.

PH will also expand the programmes to include other coalition-led states like Penang and Negri Sembilan. – July 2, 2022.