With the looming state election in Sarawak, eyes are on Pakatan Harapan’s seat negotiation and state PKR said the opposition coalition has only about 20 percent left to iron out.

“We have finalised most of the seat (negotiations). Basically 80 percent of the seats have been settled. So 20 percent seats left to go,” Baru Bian told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Bian, who is the state PKR chief, said the agreement was reached at a meeting by Harapan parties in Sarawak on Tuesday.

However, the Ba’Kelalan assemblyperson said he is unable to divulge more details as he is bound by meeting consensus.

The negotiations will continue after Chinese New Year, when the parties aim to finalise who will run in the remaining constituencies.

Sarawak DAP secretary Alan Ling concurred with Bian but is not saying much, to avoid conflicting messages from going out to the public.

However, he admitted DAP and PKR are still haggling over some seats.

“I can say (the ones that are) mainly resolved are those incumbent seats; the rest is up for grabs. We are aiming to settle it sometime in the middle of February,” the Piasau assemblyperson told Malaysiakini .

New seats up for grabs

Last year’s redelineation exercise for Sarawak by the Election Commision increased the state seats from 71 to 82.

In the last state election in 2011, PKR and DAP were in a deadlock over six seats, which were resolved before nomination day.

PKR won three out of 49 state seats it contested, while DAP won 12 out of 15 seats, almost all in urban Chinese-majority areas.

Then, local player Sarawak National Party could not come to an agreement with PKR and the two opposition parties fought against each other in 25 state seats. PAS lost in all five seats it contested.

Recently, Sarawak DAP and PKR have been reportedly clashing over Senadin, which is under Miri parliamentary seat, and newly crafted Batu Kitang under Stampin parliamentary seat.

PAS yesterday in Kuching announced it will be fielding11 candidates , including in seats traditionally contested by DAP, which may result in three-corner fights there at the very least in the upcoming state election.

Sarawak DAP withdrew from Pakatan Rakyat over the DAP-PAS hudud row. It then went on to align with the state PKR and later, Amanah, under the Harapan opposition coalition umbrella.