Sarawak DAP expects to face off against PKR in at least five constituencies during the upcoming state legislative assembly elections after seat allocation talks have broken down.

Malaysiakini understands that both parties are now laying claims to Padungan, Balai Ringin, Piasau, Senadin and Batu Kawah.

NONE During a press conference today, Kota Sentosa state assemblyperson Chong Chieng Jen said negotiations broke down after PKR refused to give way to DAP’s demand to contest 16 seats.

Contacted later, Chong ( right ) claims that PKR wants DAP to contest only 13 out of the total 71 seats.

“We can’t take it anymore. If we don’t stand our ground, we will end up as a mosquito party,” he stressed.

He said that during the final round of negotiations today, DAP said it was willing to again let go of its claim on Padungan and Senadin.

‘PKR being insincere’

However, PKR is also staking claims to Balai Ringing, Piasau and Batu Kawah.

“This is too much. This is an insincere request. Such an attitude has made it impossible to continue negotiations,” he said.

azlan Padungan is DAP’s traditional proving ground located in the heart of state capital Kuching. PKR won the seat in 2006. DAP gave way  following a complicated seat deal which the party considers was a major sacrifice.

Citing Batu Kawah as another example of why PKR was being unreasonable, Chong said the PKR candidate performed poorly there during the 2008 general elections.

Batu Kawah is one of three state seats which forms the Stampin parliamentary seat and which saw a three-corner fight in 2008 between Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), DAP and PKR.

During that contest, DAP managed to secure 34 percent of the popular vote there, while PKR only managed 4 percent.

In 2006, PKR was trounced in Batu Kawah, bagging only 2,575 votes compared to SUPP’s 6,755.

Chong said that there has been several rounds of seat negotiations with PKR since last year, but these fell flat and discussions have been left to the central leadership.

Fuziah: Seat talks still on

The latest round of negotiations today took place this afternoon in Kuching. DAP was represented by its deputy chairperson Tan Kok Wai and state chief Wong Ho Leng.

The PKR side was represented by deputy president Azmin Ali, vice-presidents Fuziah Salleh and Mansor Othman.

pkr congress seremban 250507 fuziah salleh When contacted, Fuziah insisted that negotiations had not broken down and talks will be ongoing, even up to nomination day which falls on April 6.

“The number of seats which are being disputed is only a minute amount,” she said.

She said that the national leadership of both parties are committed to ensuring straight fights because their common enemy is BN.

Fuziah stressed that PKR has strong Chinese candidates who should be fielded in Chinese-majority seats as well.

“Chinese majority seats does not necessarily mean they should be contested by DAP,” she said.

Of the 18 seats which DAP is now claiming, 14 are Chinese majority seats while the rest are mixed seats. The party contested in 12 seats during the 2006 general elections.

The list of 18 seats claimed by DAP are as follow:

N9 - Padungan

N10 - Pending

N11 - Batu Lintang

N12 - Kota Sentosa

N13 - Batu Kawah

N25 - Balai Ringin

N27 - Simanggang

N39 - Repok

N40 - Meradong

N45 - Bukit Assek

N46 - Dudong

N47 - Bawang Assam

N48 - Pelawan

N59 - Kidurong

N63 - Piasau

N64 - Pujut

N65 - Senadin

N68 - Bukit Kota