DAP received the go-ahead from PKR to contest the Pontian parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15) after further negotiation between the two parties last Saturday, said its secretary-general Anthony Loke.  

“Pontian is now one of the 55 parliamentary seats for DAP to contest in GE15. 

“We are contesting in a number of Malay-majority seats in the upcoming elections; we have Mersing, Ayer Hitam and now Pontian as the last Malay seat after the negotiation.  

“We have actually asked for the Sembrong (parliamentary seat), but PKR wants to contest the seat, so we were given Pontian and the candidate is from Johor,” he told reporters after a gathering and handing out of the ‘watikah’ to the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-DAP candidates today.  

At the ceremony, Loke also announced that a new face, Shazwan Zdainal Abidin, would be the PH candidate for the Pontian seat.  

On October 29, PKR had proposed that the Pontian seat be contested by its member, Mohd Sayfaul Arifin Abd Karim.  

Earlier in his speech, Loke said DAP would be fielding 83 candidates, comprising 55 for parliamentary seats and 28 for state seats in GE15. Out of the 55, 14 or 25.4% are women, all aged around 45 years. 

“In fact, 21 of our parliamentary seat candidates are aged below 40, which means, we are fielding mostly young candidates,” he added. 

On state assembly seats, Loke said one seat would be contested in Perlis, 19 in Perak and eight in Pahang. 

Loke also announced that the parliamentary seats in the Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur) would still be contested by the five incumbents: Lim Lip Eng (Kepong), Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan (Segambut), Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang), Teresa Kok Suh Sim (Seputeh), and Tan Kok Wai (Cheras). 

Asked on the promise made by Pakatan Harapan (PH) to abolish the North-South Expressway (PLUS) toll if given the mandate to rule the country, Loke said that during its 22 months as the federal government, PH managed to reduce the toll by 18%. 

“So, in this GE15, our manifesto continues the promise to restructure the toll.  

“We hope to fully abolish the toll to reduce the burden of the ‘rakyat’, but of course it cannot be done immediately but progressively as this is a realistic approach,” he said. – Bernama, November 2, 2022.