KUALA LUMPUR (July 24): DAP has announced that 15 candidates will contest in the upcoming state election in Selangor — down from 16 seats during the 14th state poll in 2018 — after conceding one seat in Dusun Tua to rival-turned-partner Umno.
In return, DAP will be given the right to nominate a speaker at the Selangor state assembly who is not an assemblyman, according to the party secretary general Anthony Loke Siew Fook.
“The condition (to not contest at Dusun Tua), is nominating a non-assemblyman as speaker, if we win in Selangor, and we will be nominating comrade Lau Weng San. We wish to express our appreciation to him for making way from the Banting seat in this state poll,” he told reporters after announcing the list of candidates on Monday (July 24).
The Banting seat will be contested by new candidate Papparaidu Veraman in the upcoming state election.
Apart from Lau, another DAP incumbent Ean Yong Hian Wah, former employer of the late Teoh Beng Hock, will be giving up his Seri Kembangan seat.
Loke said Ean Yong will be appointed as chairman of the Port Klang Authority.
Six of the 15 seats in Selangor will be contested by new candidates while the remaining nine seats will be defended by incumbents, including Sekinchan’s Ng Suee Lim, Kinrara’s Ng Sze Han, Subang Jaya’s Michelle Ng Mei Sze, Bukit Gasing’s Rajiv Rishyakaran, Kampung Baru’s Lim Yi Wei and Kuala Kubu Baharu’s Lee Kee Hiong.
Incumbent Balakong state assemblywoman Wong Siew Ki will be contesting in Seri Kembangan, while new candidate Ong Chun Wei will be contesting in Balakong.
Other new candidates include Yew Jia Haur, who will be contesting in Teratai, Dr Quah Perng Fei in Bandar Baru Klang, Preakas Sampunathan in Kota Kemuning and Lwi Kian Keong in Sungai Pelek.
The announcement on Monday came shortly after Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced last Friday that the coalition will be fielding Datuk Johan Abd Aziz for the Dusun Tua state seat, despite Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof from DAP having won the seat in 2018.
Dusun Tua is a Bumiputera majority seat, with 62.5% of its population are of Malay ethnic.
The state assembly seat was won by Pakatan Harapan (PH) in 2018 with a wider margin of 24.8%, up from Pakatan Rakyat’s 10.1% in 2013.
However, based on the 15th General Election (GE15) voting data, PH garnered 44.9% of total votes in Dusun Tua in 2022, down from 53.2% in 2013, with Perikatan Nasional attracting 30.7% of total votes, followed by BN’s 22.8%, translating to a margin of 14.2%.
Prior to 2013, the Dusun Tua seat was won by BN since the 1970s.
Check out the special pull-out in The Edge Malaysia to find out what to expect in the six battleground states come Aug 12 or download your copy of the report here.