Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) is expected to face three-cornered fights in the two seats the unregistered party’s candidates are contesting in Perak.

According to the party’s election director K Segar, this is because DAP has refused to back down.

PSM candidates will be contesting under the PKR banner for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat and the Jalong state seat.

"DAP is unwilling to let go both these seats. The situation looks very much similar to 2004 election where PSM and DAP fought in a three corner contest," he said in a statement.

'We did better'

In the last polls, PSM candidates fared better than the DAP candidates in both the seats.

nasir hashim Based on the results, PSM pro-tem national chairperson Dr Nasir Hashim said DAP should withdraw to ensure a straight fight with Barisan Nasional.

"They (DAP) came out third. We beat them and this shows that our party is stronger there.

"Why can’t DAP accept this and let us fight one-on-one with BN," he said, adding that DAP was just being "arrogant".

Echoing a similar view, PSM pro-tem secretary general S Arutchelvan was also disappointed.

"We could have won if it was not a three way fight. What a shame," he said when contacted.

Years of groundwork

The party also feels that PSM candidates have every right to contest in both the seats as their candidates have been "doing years of tremendous groundwork in the area."

Jalong is a Chinese majority area dominating the constituency by 59 percent and followed by Indians 26.1 percent, Malays 12.4 percent and others 2.4 percent.

Central committee member Dr D Jeyakumar will be PSM’s candidate contesting for both the Jalong seat and Sungai Siput seat, which is held by MIC president S Samy Vellu.

Meanwhile, things appear smooth for PSM in Selangor where the party will contest for two seats under the PKR banner.

Nasir will be vying for the Kota Damansara state seat while Arutchelvan will contest for the Semenyih state seat.