Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is in a fixed – lack of quality and calibred
candidates that fit Anwar Ibrahim’s bill – to some 100 parliamentary
seats.
At the same time, the party has to ‘accommodate’ the demand by DAP as
majority Chinese seats are considered as DAP’s asset compared to PKR’s
‘touch and go’.
PKR needs to win with big numbers given that Anwar is to be Prime
Minister if the opposition pact wins and if PKR has lesser numbers than
DAP and PAS, Anwar’s dream may fade.
Anwar needs to have a strong base from his own party – the numbers –
that will give him more credibility to sit at Putrajaya, not just based
on sympathy and support from leaders of other parties in the pact.
And convincing numbers would also neutralise PAS’ claim on the seat,
even though DAP has pledged to have him as Prime Minister if the
opposition pact wins the election.
Anwar has to console and convince PAS that PKR has the number to put him
at Putrajaya because PAS secretary-general Mustapa Ali had said last
year to wait for the election first before making a decision who should
be Prime Minister.
PAS Youth and delegates had made their stand that they would want party president Abdul Hadi Awang to be Prime Minister.
Given the volatile situation on his Prime Ministership, Anwar has to
prove his worth and in this case, PKR needs to have the numbers and this
is not easy when there are not enough ‘credible’ candidates to field.
The party has not decided on how many seats it would contest but it is
near 100, with PAS contesting 76 of the total 222 parliamentary seats
and DAP 50.
To fill some 100 parliamentary seats with ‘quality and calibre’
candidate is something PKR cannot do as the party is no longer seen as
‘attractive’ compared to DAP and PAS to many now.
At state level, the pact are still struggling which party contests where
each tries to get the ‘sure win’ seats such as race majority that
determines the tilt – Chinese majority will go to DAP, Malay majority go
to PAS and PKR is left with mixed racial breakdown which are generally
those who are contented with ruling BN.
This is exactly what PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
said candidates with the best chance to defeat BN will be given priority
to contest seats disputed by the pact.
According to PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, this was
one of the three principles that the pact was using in negotiating seats
to be contested by each party.
Seats won by a party in 2008 election would be defended by the same
party, and a party also has the option to re-contest the seats it lost
but these seats can still be negotiated by other parties.
With such understanding among the parties in the opposition pact, it is
clear that the ‘best meat’ go to DAP and PAS while PKR is left with
whatever seats not wanted.
Even with these ‘left-overs’ PKR finds it difficult to field the right
or winnable candidate as the party has not many left now leaving the
staunched who do not stand out as one who can serve rather than being
vocal on issues that do not affect much the people in the
constituencies.
Now the party sees its weakness although the leaders will not admit it,
claiming the party has abundance of members who lobby to become
candidates but the reality is ‘quality and calibred’ candidates are rare
and hard to find.
It is becoming the weakest link in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) tie-up as the
party lacks ‘winnable’ candidates for the coming general election
unlike the 2008 general election where candidates were in abundance.
Quality candidates seem to have faded from the party as fast as the fading of political tsunami wind.
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