PAKATAN Harapan component parties Bersatu and Amanah are expected to contest seven state seats in opposition-controlled Penang in the 14th general election. 

The Dr Mahathir Mohamad-led Bersatu will contest four seats while Amanah, PH’s smallest party, will contest three. 

A Bersatu source said his party would be given Penaga and Bertam in Kepala Batas, Permatang Berangan in Tasek Gelugor, and Teluk Bahang in Balik Pulau to contest. 

All the seats are currently held by Barisan Nasional’s Umno. 

In the last general election in 2013, Penaga, Bertam and Permatang Berangan were won by BN with vote majorities of less than 1,700. Teluk Bahang was taken with a vote majority of 801. 

Meanwhile, PAS splinter party Amanah will contest the PAS-controlled Permatang Pasir, and BN-held Sungai Dua in Tasek Gelugor and Bayan Lepas in Balik Pulau. 

Permatang Pasir has been in PAS’ hands since 1999. In the last polls, PAS retained the seat with a 6,826-vote majority. 

In Sungai Dua and Bayan Lepas, BN’s Umno barely retained the seats in 2013, winning with slim majorities of 357 and 458, respectively. 

Both Bersatu and Amanah had been eyeing the 10 BN-held seats that PAS and PKR failed to win in previous elections. 

However, PH partner PKR also wants to contest six state seats it previously lost to BN. 

The overlapping demands hampered the seat talks in Penang, causing the state PH leadership to leave it to the coalition’s presidential council. 

PKR managed to keep four of the six – Pulau Betong in Balik Pulau, Pinang Tunggal in Kepala Batas, Telok Air Tawar in Tasek Gelugor and Sungai Acheh in Nibong Tebal. 

Pulau Betong and Telok Air Tawar were retained with slim majorities of 395 and 840, respectively, in the 2013 polls. Sungai Acheh, which saw a three-cornered fight with PAS also contesting that year, was won by a 808-vote majority. 

BN took Pinang Tunggal by a 1,588-vote majority. 

In total, PKR will contest 14 state seats in Penang, including the 10 seats it already holds. 

Meanwhile, DAP, which leads the PH state government, will defend all the 19 seats it has held since the 2008 general election. DAP did not ask to contest additional seats. 

The source said the division of the 40 seats in Penang “are more or less final”. 

“It is now subject to the PH presidential council’s endorsement,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 
On Friday night, PH president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the Penang seats were settled but would not say when the formal announcement would be made. 

She said the PH presidential council would handle the matter. 

Penang PH is holding the Jelajah Pakatan Harapan programme in George Town on March 11, where it is likely to make the announcement. – March 4, 2018.