UMNO deputy president Mohamad Hasan says he is unaware that seat allocation discussions for the 15th General Election (GE15) between his party and PAS have been put on hold.

As far as the former Negri Sembilan menteri besar is concerned, talks are still on the Muafakat Nasional (MN) main committee agenda.

“I read about this in the media, but in the recent (MN) meeting, we stated that discussions would continue.

“In fact, we agreed on a formula that our respective parties would defend the seats that we had won, and also another formula whereby each party would contest seats in which it garnered the highest votes (in the seats they lost),” he told reporters in Malacca today.

The media had quoted PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang as saying that PAS has sent its representatives for seat allocation discussions with Bersatu, adding that similar talks with Umno have been put on hold due to the latter’s internal squabbles.

However, Mohamad said Umno will discuss this with PAS at the next MN meeting, adding that both parties were still on good terms.

He said party elections, which were originally scheduled for this June, would depend on ongoing developments, especially the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In the current situation, we are looking at Covid-19, because during elections members must be present, but currently there are difficulties as the pandemic has not eased. We need to adhere to standard operating procedures (SOP).

“For example, in Rembau, there are 1,100 delegates so we have to look for a hall that can accommodate 3,000 people to comply with the SOP.

“We cannot just allow 20% to attend, because the meeting will be declared null and void. Those are the constraints into which we are now looking,” he said. – Bernama, April 11, 2021.