Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) aims to contest 20 seats in the 14th general election (GE14), its secretary-general A Sivarajan said today.

Sivarajan told a press conference at the party's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur they include the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat as well as the Semenyih, Kota Damansara and Jelapang state seats, which it had contested in GE13.

"At the present moment, we are looking to contest in about 20 seats (parliamentary and state seats).

"For example it is already public knowledge that one of the seats is the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat," Sivarajan said.

As for the remaining seats, he said PSM would make an official announcement soon after final discussions are concluded at the party's division levels.

"But for sure, we will be contesting in more areas this time," he said.

While maintaining that PSM would face GE14 as a single entity, Sivarajan said the party remains open to discuss an electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan's coalition members to avoid three-cornered fights against the BN.

At the same time, he said, PSM is also ready to face such a situation as it is not involved in formal seat negotiations with the Harapan parties.

"We will be stepping on someone's toes, won't we? No choice," Sivarajan added.

PSM central committee member Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, who was also present, said the ball was in Harapan's court to negotiate with "friendly parties" to avoid three-cornered fights that would work in favour of the BN.

"Harapan must understand that this will be a difficult elections, so they should make as many friends as possible, particularly with parties that had done work on the ground and have grassroots support.

"They (Harapan) can't be too confident, cocksure and arrogant," Jeyakumar cautioned, citing for example Parti Warisan Negara in Sabah, which was formed by former Umno vice-president Mohd Shafie Apdal.

Friendly parties including PSM and Warisan are also unlike PAS, which had acted in an "antagonistic manner" towards Harapan, he said.

"We (PSM) are not like that (antagonistic) and have consistently agreed that the main goal should be to overthrow BN," Jeyakumar added.

In GE13, PSM's candidates for Semenyih and Jelapang had lost in multi-cornered fights under its own logo against candidates from PKR, DAP and BN.

Despite agreeing to contest under PKR's banner in Kota Damansara, PSM president Dr Nasir Hashim eventually saw himself going up against a PAS candidate - who was at the time a member of Pakatan Rakyat - as well against BN and three others.