Sarawak DAP and PKR may swap some of their seats soon, with discussions set to take place as early as next month, reports Borneo Post.

“I met (state DAP chairperson) Chong Chieng Jen at my open house yesterday (Sunday), and we agreed to meet sometime in the middle of January. We will probably discuss this possibility,” state PKR chief Baru Bian told the English daily.

While he did not provide details, Baru confirmed there were proposals to swap several seats.

“Not only on Miri seat, but on other seats, too,” Baru reportedly said.

He was responding to a Chinese daily’s report on the matter, speculating that PKR would trade away Miri for DAP's Stampin.

Baru explained that the state PKR was always open to discuss seat swaps with its ally.

“As indicated openly by both parties before this, we agreed to begin with the status quo as per the 13th general election (GE13). Therefore, I do not expect any problem this time.

“There is nothing wrong about us exchanging seats during GE14 with Sarawak DAP. We are always open for negotiations with them,” he reportedly said, adding that the state PKR was also open to discuss the distribution of seats with other Pakatan Harapan partners.

It was speculated that the seat swap between DAP and PKR would be based on the formula that a winning seat be swapped with another winning seat.

Hence, if the DAP is eyeing Miri, which is an urban constituency, the party would have to trade the following urban seats it won during GE13 - Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sibu and Lanang.

The report suggested that Chong was unlikely to concede Sibu and Lanang. Besides, PKR did not seem to have strong candidates in the central region, which left Bandar Kuching and Stampin.

However it was noted that there was a slim chance of Chong giving up his Bandar Kuching constituency, which meants that DAP would probably swap Stampin for Miri.

The report said that this made sense as PKR had a more prominent presence in Stampin, while DAP grassroots had been calling for Miri to be returned to the party's fold.

PKR’s Dr Michael Teo won in Miri in GE13 with a 1,992-vote majority, while DAP’s Julian Tan won in Stampin with a majority of 18,670 votes.

Sarawak PKR currently held one parliamentary seat, while the state DAP had five.

Seat negotiations was a sore point for both state PKR and DAP, with the 'allies' standing against each other in six state seats during the Sarawak election early this year.