Two-party PH agrees not to clash with Syed Saddiq’s candidates in Johor

Pakatan Harapan (PH), which is contesting the upcoming Johor election without its lynchpin party PKR, today agreed to ink a deal with former Bersatu Youth leader Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s party, which will see the opposition coalition staying out of six seats to avoid a clash.

Amanah’s Mohamad Sabu and DAP’s Lim Guan Eng said in a statement that their parties along with Syed Saddiq’s Muda would face the election as strategic partners although Muda would not join PH.

“This is in line with the ‘big tent’ principle to unite all political parties and to mobilise our forces to fight the Barisan Nasional (BN)/Perikatan Nasional (PN) government,” they said in the statement also signed by Syed Saddiq.

The agreement will see Amanah and DAP staying out of the Tenang, Bukit Kepong, Parit Raja, Machap, Puteri Wangsa and Bukit Permai state seats, which will be contested by candidates from Muda.

Four of the seats – Tenang, Bukit Kepong, Puteri Wangsa and Bukit Permai – were won by Bersatu when it was still part of PH.

A total of 56 seats will be contested at the Johor election to be held on March 12.

The previous government led by BN had 28 state seats through Umno (14 seats), MIC (two), Bersatu (11) and PAS (one) while Pakatan Harapan held 27 seats through DAP (14), PKR (seven), and Amanah (six).

PH announced in January that Anwar’s PKR would contest the Johor election using its own logo, while Amanah and DAP would remain under the coalition’s banner.

It later said that Amanah and PKR would each contest 20 seats and DAP, 16.

On Jan 24, Anwar had invited opposition parties including Pejuang, Warisan and Muda to work together in facing the Johor election.

But Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir said yesterday that his party had no plans to join PH through the “big tent” concept.

While talks had been had with Muda, he added, no final decision had been made on cooperation for the Johor polls.