The talks of early elections is pushing all parties to check their preparedness and political strategies. With the demise of Poh Ah Tiam, the state assembly representative for Machap, Malacca, we the opposition now have an opportunity to gauge how the public and the electorate perceive us.

All parties agree that the important issue at hand is to increase the chances of winning, and we have to work together to achieve this. I am sure the public wants to see a one-to-one contest and we should avoid a three-corner fight at any cost. We must avoid being fragmented and agree to cooperate. We should be able to put our differences aside to make sure the message we take to the people is that the opposition can be trusted and is willing to work together for the betterment of the Malaysian public.

We need not agree on all issues but we should forge a working relationship to convince the electorate that the opposition is united in facing the Barisan Nasional. Having said that, we in Keadilan strongly feel that a transparent and fair discussion should be held over the choice of candidate and party in the coming by-election. The well-being and interests of the people should prevail over any one party's interests.

The party that has the better chance of winning should be given the opportunity to contest and the others should support in any way possible. We ask that no party make premature announcements until consultations are completed.

We sincerely hope that DAP, PAS and Keadilan will be able to cooperate and work together in order to achieve a consensus as to which party will run - a decision that will benefit the electorate, not only in this by-election but in the coming general election.

The author is deputy secretary-general of Party Keadilan Rakyat.