Pejuang man slams call for PAS to cede a third of seats to Umno

Pejuang information chief Rafique Rashid Ali has slammed a proposal for PAS to allocate a third of the seats in the four states it governs to Umno if the two parties want to continue working together in future elections.

Rafique said uniting the ummah is not merely about who gets the seats and how many they secure. It also requires clarity of principles, agreement on policies and a willingness to respect differences between parties, he said.

“If there is a genuine desire to cooperate, why must the one-third formula be announced before negotiations are finalised?” he said in a Facebook post.

He also said that if ummah unity is the goal, the form of unity intended must be clear.

“Is it electoral cooperation? Power-sharing in government? Or an understanding of specific policies? These questions must be answered before the number of seats is used as a measure of sincerity,” Rafique said.

Pejuang is a component member of Perikatan Nasional, which PAS currently chairs.

Umno Supreme Council member Nur Jazlan Mohamed made the one-third seat proposal, saying PAS did not need to contest every seat in Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis.

He argued that a two-thirds share would be enough, saying Barisan Nasional’s two-thirds majority in Johor in 2022 had boosted investor confidence.

PAS won all 27 seats it contested in Terengganu, 37 of the 45 seats in Kelantan, 21 of the 36 seats in Kedah and nine seats in Perlis.

Rafique asked whether Nur Jazlan’s proposal was his personal view or Umno’s official decision.

He also said that Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis have different electoral histories and political circumstances.

“Therefore, the same seat-allocation formula may not necessarily be suitable for every state. Politics inevitably requires negotiations.

“But good negotiations require clarity, not merely demands announced to the media,” he said.

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