The electoral tussle between Keadilan and DAP candidates for four constituencies in Sarawak's eighth state assembly election will be over by the end of the week, a Keadilan official said today.

"I have had discussions with Sarawak DAP chief Richard Wong but I do not foresee any real problems arising. It was very positive," Keadilan Sarawak election chief Azmin Ali told malaysiakini .

At the moment, DAP and Keadilan candidates are vying for the areas of Pandungan, Repok, Jepak and Tanjung Datu.

"There is no decision as yet but we have agreed that our common enemy is the Barisan Nasional," Azmin said.

On Monday, DAP's Wong told malaysiakini that the party would be avoiding multi-cornered fights that involved Keadilan.

Wong, however, said that there had been no discussions with PAS, the other opposition party that is trying to make inroads into the state.

Sarawak DAP pulled out from the state Barisan Alternatif in March due to unresolved issues with Keadilan over the 1999 parliamentary election and with PAS over the Islamic state issue.

Unlike Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak has no official BA coalition. However, opposition parties continue to maintain close ties with one another.

Overlapping interest

According to Azmin, Keadilan has had discussions with PAS yesterday on the overlapping interest in Samariang.

"We have had discussions but they have not gotten back to me yet. We told them that of course the seat should be given to Keadilan seeing that our candidate has a strong influence in the area," he said.

Not wanting to disclose the name, Azmin only said that the candidate was a former adviser to caretaker chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Azmin added that Keadilan might also be fielding a candidate in the Balingian constituency where Taib will contest.

It was reported that Taib, whose current seat is in Asajaya, may win unopposed as no one has come forward to stand against him so far.

The Keadilan candidate has not been named yet but he is believed to have a strong family influence in the predominantly Melanau area.

"We will be discussing this issue with party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail when she comes in today," Azmin said.

Veteran politician

Meanwhile, Azmin admitted that proposals had been made to veteran politician Sim Kwang Yang to run for a seat.

"He is an asset and he has advised us a great deal on Sarawak. We have a series of discussions with him and one occasion I proposed to him the idea to run for a seat but he has not made up his mind yet,' Azmin said.

When contacted, however, Sim said that he would be not be running for any seats in Sarawak and did not wish to comment further.

The former three-term member of Parliament for Bandar Kuching was a DAP member before joining Keadilan during the early days of the latter's formation.

The 62-member Sarawak assembly, the highest law-making body in the state, was dissolved on Monday.

Nomination day is on Sept 18 and polling, eight days later on Sept 27.