Melaka polls: Bersatu skipped PN seat talks before fielding candidates, says Tuan Ibrahim

MELAKA: Bersatu did not attend Perikatan Nasional's seat allocation negotiations before fielding candidates against the coalition in the Melaka election, Pas deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said.

He said Bersatu had been invited to participate in discussions on seat distribution ahead of the election but did not send any representatives.

The party later decided to field candidates against PN, despite maintaining that it remained part of the coalition.

"When we held the seat allocation meeting, we invited Bersatu, but they did not attend.

"They did not attend and then fielded candidates against PN candidates," he told reporters after attending the Ceramah Kelompok UDM Pantai Cheng last night.

He was responding to remarks by Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu that the party remained part of PN.

Tuan Ibrahim also questioned Bersatu's commitment to the coalition, citing its complaint to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) seeking PN's deregistration.

"If they are still part of PN, they should not have lodged a report seeking to deregister the coalition.

"How can a component party lodge a complaint with the RoS to deregister PN and then claim that it is still part of the coalition? That is not right.

"If they were serious, they should not have lodged the complaint, and when we invited them to the meeting, they should have attended," he said.

He said the dispute over Bersatu's position within PN would ultimately be decided by the coalition's Supreme Council.

Meanwhile, Tuan Ibrahim expressed satisfaction with the progress of the election campaign, particularly the cooperation between Barisan Nasional and PN.

He said campaign activities had proceeded smoothly, with no major incidents reported apart from minor complaints involving party flags.

"I am satisfied with the progress of the campaign and very satisfied with the cooperation between BN and PN this time.

"I happened to meet Election Commission monitors, and the feedback I received was that campaigning has generally proceeded smoothly, without any serious incidents," he said.