KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 19): PKR and DAP will meet today to settle competing seat claims in the Sarawak elections, in what is the first test of whether parties in the new opposition coalition can work together.

At least 15 state seats are at stake, where both Pakatan Harapan allies have staked a claim, say insiders in the coalition.

It is learnt that both parties were prepared to fight each other as well as the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 15 seats. Such a prospect, analysts have said, would lead to a BN victory.

Failure to agree on sole Pakatan candidates in Sarawak’s 82 state seats would threaten a fundamental principle of the five-month old coalition – to ensure one-to-one fights against BN.

PKR, DAP and Pakatan officials declined to go into the specifics of the negotiations and which seats were involved for the polls widely expected to be held in April.

However, they stressed that each party would do its utmost to ensure that the coalition fielded a single candidate in all 82 seats.

“We believe that our Sarawak counterparts are consulting each other and we believe that they can resolve these differences,” said Pakatan chief secretary Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

Pundits have said the state elections would be tough for all opposition parties because of the popularity of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

Dayak inroads

All 15 seats are in smaller towns with big Dayak populations in central Sarawak along the Pan-Borneo highway, such as Serian and Sri Aman.

These seats are also in suburban areas about an hour outside larger cities, such as Bau and Bengoh near Kuching, where both PKR and DAP have made their presence felt five years ago.

A previous report by The Malaysian Insider identified some of these seats as Opar and Tasik Biru in Opar, Serembu, Bengoh, Tarat Kedup and Bukit Semuja in Serian, the new mixed seat of Batu Kitang and the Malay seat of Tupong.

It is learnt that the seats have Dayak populations of between 60% and 70% and both parties are targeting them as members.

Dayaks, who are further divided into sub-ethnic groups, such as the Iban, Bidayuh and Kayans, collectively form Sarawak’s largest biggest community.

PKR, which has traditionally contested Dayak seats since the 2006 state elections, has made enormous in-roads into the community.

But it was the DAP which has taken the largest haul of seats in elections, winning all of Sarawak’s Chinese-dominated seats in Kuching and the major towns of Sibu, Miri and Bintulu in the 2011 elections. It currently holds 12 seats in the Sarawak assembly, the most for any opposition party.

DAP has also attracted a steady stream of new Dayak members and supporters through its more than 30 community-based projects under its Impian Sarawak initiative.

This newly established strength in Dayak areas is the driving factor for DAP to field candidates in what has traditionally been PKR’s territory.

“We have established ourselves over years in these places and now DAP just wants to come in and claim it as theirs?” asked an irate Sarawak PKR leader who requested anonymity.

Although Sarawak PKR was seeking a settlement, grassroots members have been told to prepare themselves for multi-cornered contests in these seats, the leader said.

Talks until nomination day

Independent pollster Ibrahim Suffian said historically, rival opposition candidates only benefited BN.

This is because the number of voters against the government will be split between two opposition candidates, leaving BN to amass the biggest bloc of votes.

Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jien declined to go into details of the negotiations other than he hoped today’s meeting would provide a final settlement.

Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian said he was positive that the two parties would be able to work out their overlapping claims.

“I hope that there will be no three-cornered fights.”

Baru declined to comment when asked whether PKR was prepared to face both DAP and BN if negotiations failed.

“It is too premature to say that there will be such contests and we are positive we can work things out.

“We are prepared to negotiate all the way up to nomination day to ensure that there are straight fights in the elections.”