PKR looking to win 7 seats including Lendu in Melaka polls

PKR is aiming to win seven of the 11 seats it is contesting in the Melaka state election, its Melaka chairman Halim Bachik says.

Halim said the party is confident of capturing four more seats to add to the Rembia, Kelebang and Machap Jaya constituencies it won in the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018.

“The four additional seats are Paya Rumput, Asahan, Rim and Lendu,” he said at an online press conference today.

In GE14, Pakatan Harapan (PH) formed the state government after winning 15 seats, with DAP contributing eight, PKR three, Amanah two, and Bersatu two.

In this election on Nov 20, PH is contesting in all 28 seats, with PKR running in 11, Amanah nine and DAP eight.

Bersatu is now part of Perikatan Nasional (PN) which, like Barisan Nasional (BN) and PH, is also contesting in all 28 seats.

Halim said although Lendu was a BN stronghold represented by incumbent Sulaiman Md Ali, the caretaker chief minister, PKR was confident that its young candidate could win as he could bring change.

“Although it is a Malay-majority seat, GE13 and GE14 showed that even former chief ministers failed to successfully defend their seats despite being incumbents,” he added.

Lendu will see a three-cornered fight involving Sulaiman, Abdullah Mahadi of PN and Mohamad Asri Ibrahim of PH.

In GE14, Sulaiman won the seat by a majority of 627 votes.