A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) top leader has expressed unhappiness over the pact signed with opposition ally PAS over the allocation of seats in Kedah for the coming general election.

Keadilan vice-president Azmin Ali said the party had sought a fair share of winnable seats despite it being a 'new and young' party.

He said the pact, although inked by the two parties at the state level, may not get the endorsement from the top leadership in the Barisan Alternatif presidential council, which included PAS, Keadilan and PRM.

"I am not saying there is a conflict but we do not want to be a victim all the time," he told malaysiakini .

"Where the Kedah agreement is concerned, we are not very happy that we were given seats that are considered unwinnable and seats which DAP has also showed an interest in," he lamented.

The memorandum of understanding between the two opposition parties, signed on Wednesday, will be announced on Feb 11 in Kedah's Kota Sarang Semut.

Kedah PAS commissioner Azizan Abdul Razak and Kedah Keadilan state chief Johari Abdul inked the agreement, which detailed the seats to be contested by the two opposition coalition members.

However, Azmin, who is Keadilan election campaign director, said the MOU between the state leaders may not be automatically approved by the party's supreme council.

He related an incident in the 1999 general election where there was a divisional level agreement for Keadilan to surrender Perak's Bagan Datoh parliamentary seat to PAS.

The move was later reversed by the party's supreme council. However, Keadilan failed to wrest the seat from Umno.

Azmin said the state seats claimed by both parties in Kedah are Kubang Rotan, Derga, Kulim, Bukit Selambau, Sidam, Batu Arang, Gurun and Kota Darul Aman.

He said the two parties may have to re-negotiate the deal as Keadilan wanted a chance to perform, not only in mixed-race seats but also in Malay and Chinese majority areas because it is 'a multi-racial party'.

Malay heartland

When contacted, Keadilan deputy state chief Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he was satisfied with the agreement.

Saifuddin, who is also Keadilan vice-president, said he was confident that the agreement would be accepted by the supreme council, which meets monthly to deliberate on party issues.

However, the Lunas state assembly representative declined to divulge the number of seats that would be contested by Keadilan in Kedah.

But it is learnt that PAS had agreed to surrender four parliamentary and nine state seats.

These are mainly mixed-race seats, where at least five may be claimed by another opposition party DAP, which left the Barisan Alternatif due to differences with PAS over the Islamic state issue.

Kedah - the home state of former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad - is tipped to be the next Malay heartland which could fall under opposition control.

It is the only ruling Barisan Nasional coalition-controlled state without a two-third majority. In the1999 general election, BN lost eight out of the 15 parliamentary seats and 13 out of the 36 state seats.

In the past, Keadilan had assisted PAS in garnering non-Muslim votes to ensure victory for the opposition.

Meanwhile, Azizan was not available for comment but he was quoted as saying in Harakah that Kedah was the first state where Barisan Alternatif component parties have successfully concluded the seat allocation exercise.

Azizan, who is also Sala state assembly representative, said PAS will contest in 11 parliamentary and 27 state seats.