Kit Siang sets 135 seats target to oust BN in GE14

Come the next general election, Lim Kit Siang said Pakatan Rakyat should aim to win 135 parliamentary seats to capture the administrative capital of Putrajaya.

The veteran politician set a target of 45 seats each for PKR, PAS and DAP, which would translate into a parliamentary majority of 48 seats.

"Based on the present redelineation, the 'Battle for Putrajaya' in GE14 will depend on the outcome in 80 marginal seats – 51 presently held by BN and 29 by Pakatan," Lim (left) added.

The DAP leader said taking more than 55 percent votes secured in GE13 as a "safe" seat, BN has 82 safe seats while Pakatan has 60.

"In GE13, Pakatan won the popular vote but was robbed of Putrajaya as BN is the federal government with the majority of seats – 89 for Pakatan as against BN’s 133 seats.

"If Pakatan had won another 23 seats, it would have the simple majority of 112 out of 222 seats," he added in a statement.

In GE14, Lim said apart from retaining all 89 parliamentary seats, Pakatan should not just aim at winning 23 of the 51 BN marginal seats, but set its sights on doubling this target to win over 46 out of the 51 BN marginal seats.

To achieve the 45 seats target, DAP, which has 38 seats, must win another seven, while PKR needs another 15 and PAS another 24.

"I do not think this is too tall an order, considering that PAS had won 27 parliamentary seats in the 1999 general election - when the Barisan Alternative was first formed - and PAS almost quadrupled its previous parliamentary score of seven MPs in the 1995 general election," said Lim.

"The performance of the Pakatan Rakyat parties in the 2008 and 2013 GEs have shown that the three component parties have their  basic strengths.

"And if we are prepared to persevere in a common patriotic cause to save the country from corruption, cronyism, abuses of power and exploitation of the poor and the downtrodden, extremism and intolerance and put in place good governance, public integrity, accountability, respect for democracy and human rights, moderation and tolerance,  we have no reason to be pessimistic about the future of the country or the outcome of the GE14," he added.