Gerakan chief eyes parliamentary seat in Penang

PETALING JAYA: Gerakan president Dominic Lau might be contesting a parliamentary seat in Penang, after losing two previous general election contests in Batu.

Lau gave a hint of his candidacy when speaking to reporters after launching the Perikatan Nasional (PN) operations room in Puchong today, Bernama reported.

Lau said Gerakan was expected to be allocated more seats to contest in Penang under PN because of the party’s 39-year history in the state.

The party won a majority of seats in the state assembly in 1969 and held power in the state until the 2008 general election, when the Pakatan Rakyat coalition took power.

“Although Gerakan is a non-ethnic party, the perception under PN is that non-Malay areas will be given to Gerakan because the strength of the party is mixed seats,” Lau told reporters.

He said negotiations on seat allocation among PN component parties were almost completed, with a few more seats to be determined in the final evaluation before the full list of candidates is announced.

Lau had previously contested and lost in Batu, Kuala Lumpur, to Tian Chua of PKR in 2013 and P Prabakaran (an independent candidate backed by Pakatan Harapan) in 2018. — Free Malaysia Today