PAKATAN Harapan allocated states to its component parties based on personalities, the number of seats held and other factors, party leaders said.

DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke said although the number of seats held by component parties, particularly DAP and PKR, were considered, the decision was also made based on the state personalities and who could effectively lead the coalition into the coming elections.

Well-known personalities as generals

Each party, the Seremban MP said, had proposed their choice of leaders.

“Most of the states are led by well-known PH leaders with experience and seniority. Each party has agreed on who is the best person to head the coalition in the state.

“The state allocations are also quite balanced with Bersatu and PKR each having four states and DAP and Amanah with three each,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The PH presidential council meeting confirmed the allocation of states on Monday, with a source at the meeting telling The Malaysian Insight that PKR would chair PH in Selangor, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah.

Collective decision

As Bersatu and Amanah are both new and have the fewest seats in Dewan Rakyat and state assemblies, the number of seats held did not factor into the allocation, Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa said.

He also concurred that personalities factored into the decisions made by the PH presidential council.

He cited Amanah’s Adly Zahari in Malacca, where the party has no seats in the 28-seat legislative assembly. Only DAP and PAS have five seats and one seat each respectively.

“But Adly is not a new face, being a local, an entrepreneur and a former state PAS commissioner. We were together in PAS Youth when I was based in Malacca,” Mujahid said.

Anchor states

Political analyst Hisomuddin Bakar said allocating different states to different parties may mean giving the parties “anchor states”.

He said it also indicated which party would take the top post – mentri besar or chief minister – if PH wins the states.

“The state PH chairman, who will formulate the strategy to win the state legislative assembly and lead the coalition into the election, may become the MB,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Hisomuddin, who is Ilham Centre’s executive director, said PH would have looked at the parliamentary and state seats in the states, the parties’ work on the ground, and the people’s sentiments and reception towards the respective component parties.

“For example, in Kedah, PH likely considered Mukhriz Mahathir’s popularity as he was the former Mentri Besar,” he said.

For states like Penang and Selangor, which are already controlled by DAP and PKR respectively, there would be no disputes, but the PH parties would have had to negotiate and make proposals to convince the leadership to let them lead in the other states.

“Some might have contested in the past but failed to win the seats, so they surely had to negotiate,” he said.

Tossing PAS out of the equation

With Bersatu and Amanah joining the contest and wanting seats, Hisomuddin said negotiating with former opposition ally PAS would have caused problems.

“Amanah would certainly eye PAS seats. PKR talking to PAS, in Selangor for instance, would have caused problems for Amanah seats.

“Working with PAS would have disrupted the entire seat negotiation process for all PH parties when the next general election is getting closer,” he said.

PH issued a statement after midnight yesterday, declaring that it will not cooperate with PAS, ending months of speculation and uncertainty on the coalition’s position on the Islamist party despite a robust debate within PKR. – August 30, 2017.