Press Digest - PAS will contest more seats in snap polls

PETALING JAYA: PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the party will contest more seats, including the two to three seats it "gave" to PKR in the 2013 general election, apart from the six it last contested, should a snap election be called in Penang.
In an interview with Sin Chew Daily published today, he said PAS will forge "conditional cooperation" with PKR, which in effect will deny Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) any chance to contest.
"Because they (PKR) forged an alliance with Amanah, if Amanah contests in PAS' seats, we will take on PKR and DAP in their constituencies," he said.
Tuan Ibrahim gave an assurance that if Amanah does not throw a spanner in the works of PAS, the party will not create multi-cornered fights in constituencies contested by PKR.
"Amanah is a component party of Pakatan Harapan (PH), we will regard the result of our seat negotiations with PKR as a consensus with the three (PH) parties. When PKR does not field candidates in our seats, it should not allow Amanah to contest against us, lest it is regarded as having breached our conditions."
However, he disclosed that PKR has yet to contact PAS on seat allocation as PKR itself has yet to take a stand regarding DAP's proposal to hold snap polls.
Asked how many seats PAS intends to contest, Tuan Ibrahim said: "Maybe more (seats than we last contested). Last time (in 2013), we made way for PKR in two to three seats where Malays account for 40%-50% of the total voters, such as Balik Pulau. These are winnable seats to us even if the contests involves three or more candidates."
He said although PAS is an opposition party in Penang, it will not work with the state opposition coalition – Barisan Nasional – in the event of a snap election.