We’ll resolve MCA’s protests before nominations, says Zahid

MCA’s protests over the allocation of seats for the Nov 14 Melaka polls will be resolved before nomination day on Oct 31, says Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid said he met MCA president Wee Ka Siong before the BN candidates were announced yesterday, adding that there was “confusion” as the coalition’s secretariat had failed to notify Wee beforehand about the candidate announcement.

“Indeed, he was surprised because he had not been informed by the secretariat that candidates would be announced at the ceremony.

“However, this is an issue that we will resolve. We will hold discussions before Oct 31,” the Umno president said, according to Bernama.

Zahid said Melaka BN chief Ab Rauf Yusoh had been entrusted with holding the initial discussions with the state MCA leadership.

He added that there was still room for discussions with MCA if the Chinese-based BN component was unhappy with the candidates announced.

Wee led an MCA walkout at the BN event in Melaka last night as the Umno-led coalition unveiled its candidates for the Nov 14 state election.

The MCA president said seats previously contested by the party had been allocated to other parties without proper consultation despite MCA being a long-standing BN component.

Wee also said BN’s executive secretary had informed MCA two days ago that the event would only involve the launch of the coalition’s election machinery, with no candidates to be announced.