INTERVIEW Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB) is still on the fence as to whether it wants to place candidates in the areas contested by PAS in state and parliamentary elections.

However, according to GHB committee member Mujahid Yusof Rawa, anything related to elections and candidates has no basis for discussion at present.

Any decision to place candidates in any area would require technical discussions with all opposition parties, Mujahid said.

This would ensure that the main goal of the new party contesting in a general election would be to defeat the BN and not other opposition parties, he added.

Therefore, the Penang GHB chairperson said, the priority of the movement right now is to make sure that whatever area it contests will not become a boon to the BN.

"In general, in the context of elections, the matter needs discussion and understanding. The main thing is we are facing BN. Not PAS, PKR or DAP.

"The strategy needs to become the foundation. As long as it benefits BN, for sure we do not want it to happen. But there are some situations where not (contesting) will benefit BN.

"This is a technical issue. I feel there isn't a foundation yet (to be talking about placing candidates or not). The important thing is to make sure what happens doesn't benefit BN," Mujahid said in an interview with Malaysiakini .

PAS had earlier expressed its concern, saying that GHB should not place its candidates in the Sarawak state elections because it fears GBH might split the Pakatan Rakyat vote.

According to PAS vice-president Iskandar Abdul Samad, the new party wanting to place candidates in the state elections is seen as "disturbing" to the Pakatan votes against BN.

Iskandar ( photo ), who is a Selangor executive council member, also said that if GHB was truly genuine about its political agenda, it should focus on attracting BN voters and those on the fence.

GHB Sarawak had in a statement expressed its readiness to place candidates in the coming state elections.

The current term of the Sarawak state assembly expires in June 2016.

Asked whether GHB is worried about split votes if its candidates contest in elections, Mujahid said they would try to avoid this from taking place.

However, it depends on the outcome of the discussions with the other opposition parties, that is DAP and PKR.

'Split votes are sure to happen...'

"Split votes are sure to happen. But we must look at other spaces too, so that there is no clashing. We are tied to DAP and PKR. All this must be taken into account.

"We don't want any benefit to lead to the BN winning and at the same time, we don't want to split the Pakatan vote. There has to be a balance," Mujahid, the MP for Parit Buntar, explained.

As for the steps being taken for GHB to be registered as a political party, he said they have two options at this time.

Apart from registering as a new political party, GHB will also try to take over an existing political party, the Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air or Kita .

"We have two options. Either we register as a new party, which has been done before and will take two years. Another option that has also been done by PKR is to take over an existing party and change its constitution to remake it as a new party. I feel this is easier.

"Those are our options. We will use both. From any angle of any party, we have many options. Even though some talk about Kita, that is only a part and one of the options. There are other parties in our radar as well," Mujahid said.