GERAKAN, reportedly only given one seat to contest in the upcoming Kedah state elections, is pushing for three in the ongoing seat negotiations within Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Sources told The Malaysian Insight that state party leaders want to contest the Kota Darul Aman, Bakar Arang and Derga seats, and have informed their partners in the PN coalition – PAS and Bersatu – that they are confident of winning these seats.

Among the candidates they reportedly plan to field is Darul Aman division chairman Chuah See Seng.

Gerakan, whose political fortunes have waned in recent years, has not won any seat in this predominantly conservative Malay-Muslim state.

PAS, as expected, will get a lion’s share of the 36 seats in the state legislative assembly.

Sources said after two rounds of negotiations, PAS had been allocated 22 seats, with the remaining 14 to be divided between Bersatu and Gerakan.

The first round of negotiations was reported to have taken place on April 8 and the second on April 18.

“After the first round of negotiations, Gerakan was only allocated one seat,” one source said.

Another source said for Gerakan to make the breakthrough in the state, it probably has to think outside the box and not necessarily field the candidate much talked about on the streets.

The source also said the party’s national supreme council has drawn up its list of candidates.

“Once the seat negotiations are over, the party will finalise its list of candidates. It wants to avoid last-minute changes,” the source said.

Gerakan, to the Kedah electorate, is very much an underdog if it contests in the state with many already writing the party off.

The party is expected to use the PN logo in the elections, expected to be held by the end of June or early July.

“They are confident the PN flag will bring them success. In the 15th general election, PN won 14 of the 14 federal seats contested in the state,” the source said.

“There’s no going back and using other flags.”

Gerakan president Dominic Lau declined to comment, saying he was not in the position to do so at the moment.

The general speculation is that the opposition PN will again sweep all the seats in the state, as it did in the general election and return the PAS-dominated state government back to power.

Kedah PN deputy chief and state Gerakan chairman Marimuthu Selvan is predicting the coalition will win at least 33 seats, if not all.

He said PN is on a roll and would repeat its general election performance.

Party remains unknown to voters

Gerakan’s optimism is, however, not shared by political analyst Cheah See Kian.

Cheah told The Malaysian Insight that it would be difficult for Gerakan to make the much hoped-for breakthrough.

“Gerakan is not what it used to be. It’s not the power it used to be,” he said.

“It’s leaning on the strength of its PN partners to make that breakthrough.”

He said the party leaders are also largely unknown to the electorate and that will make that breakthrough all the more difficult.

“The well-known leaders in the past have all gone,” he said in reference to leaders such as Lim Chong Eu, Syed Hussain Alatas and Tan Chee Khoon.

Rather than wasting its resources in Kedah or any other states, Cheah said Gerakan should instead focus its fight on the home base, Penang.

“That’s important. Make that comeback in Penang. It has gone through four elections without winning any seat. That’s 20 years of nothing,” he said.

Cheah said the party needs to re-evaluate where it should go in the state polls. – April 22, 2023.