There appears to be growing discontent over the Penang snap election between DAP, which has been pushing to call for one, and PKR, which remains unconvinced that it is necessary.

Leaders from both parties have come out to defend their positions, with several of them beginning to snipe at each other in their statements.

DAP is keen on holding the snap election to serve as a referendum on its secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, with regard to his corruption charges.

The party claims that Lim is a victim of political victimisation, which the authorities have denied.

Amanah has already said that it agrees to the snap election, leaving PKR as the only Pakatan Harapan partner still undecided on the matter.

Malaysiakini spoke to some political analysts on this matter, who agreed that PKR's reservations about the snap election appear to stem from seat allocation concerns.

"DAP may be confident of winning its seats if an election is called in Penang, but PKR is less confident as the issues with PAS have not been resolved.

"If Amanah decides to contest in PAS seats, it may precipitate all-out hostility between Pakatan and PAS," Merdeka Center executive director Ibrahim Suffian said when contacted by Malaysiakini today.

This would ultimately lead to a potentially disastrous outcome in a national election, Ibrahim said.

However, he believes that Pakatan Harapan can come through safely over this episode, given the cooperation within the coalition pact.

But, he said the episode would test the trust and dependency among the coalition partners that have been developed over the years.

PKR wants guarantee

For political analyst Ahmad Atory Hussain, the decision on the snap polls has not been finalised yet so it is too early to say the coalition partners are in disagreement.

"This is not final yet so we are going to wait for the final decision to be made by the component parties.

"It's quite difficult to say something right now," Ahmad said.

He said that to hold such an election, there must be strong cooperation among the partners within Pakatan Harapan.

"I think the point is, they (PKR) want a guarantee on seat allocation, since PAS and Amanah are in conflict," he said.

In the previous elections, there was no Amanah, so with a new player in the elections, it could drastically affect the allocation of seats in the snap election, Ahmad  said.

PAS has said that it is ready to face Pakatan Harapan if a snap election is called in Penang, although it has not decided whether it would contest in seats in which PKR wants to field its candidates.

A snap election in Penang is seen as a way to solidify Lim's position, following pressure on him to resign after he was charged with corruption last month.

Lim said the decision to call a snap election must, however, be made with the consensus of Pakatan Harapan partners PKR and Amanah.

DAP holds 19 seats in the Penang state legislative assembly, PKR 10 and PAS one. BN holds 10 seats.