Opposition parties DAP and PKR - fresh from concluding an amicable seat arrangement deal in Penang - are looking at wrapping up seat negotiations in other states too.

Sources from both the parties indicated that the talks are likely to be concluded soon in all the other remaining states, and expressed confidence of an agreeable consensus being reached.

“With the negotiations now being headed by (PKR de facto leader) Anwar Ibrahim and (DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng, I believe we can expect the outcome very, very soon,” a well-placed source said.

The negotiations, which began last July, were initially headed by the party’s respective negotiation teams but progress were slow, with no compromise being agreed on certain overlapping seats that both parties thought they stood a good chance to win.

However with the injection of authority by both Anwar and Lim, the negotiations are expected to be wrapped up imminently, especially with the general election tipped to be held by March.

Lim and his PKR counterpart, Khalid Ibrahim, were quoted in a Chinese daily today as saying that they hoped to finalise all seat-arrangement talks before the Chinese New Year which falls on Feb 7.

Grumbling at grassroots

There is a new spirit of enthusiasm among party leaders now that the seats talks in Penang have been inked without any problems on Wednesday. Both the party had been at loggerheads over distribution of seats in the state in the past, to the extend of standing against each other in four seats in the state in 2004, and allowing an easy ride for BN.

The immediate focus of the two parties have now shifted to Perak and Sarawak, two states where the parties have failed to agree to reach an agreement.

One core issue in Perak appears to be the Chinese-based DAP’s insistence to contest in all three parliamentary and nine state seats in the Kinta Valley, much to the dismay of the multi-racial PKR.

It is understood that the PKR grassroots there had whispered to their party leadership that they were all prepared to go for three-cornered fights in the event DAP was unwilling to give up even a single seat in the Kinta Valley.

Problems are also expected in the parliamentary seats of Taiping and Teluk Intan in the state. In Taiping during the last election, the opposition garnered more votes than the BN but still lost the contest due to a three-cornered fight.

Perak-based PKR vice-president Dr Lee Boon Chye admitted that it was “tougher” for both his party and DAP to reach an agreement in Perak than the deal which they sealed in Penang.

But he was confident that the talks can be concluded just in time for the general election.

“(The top leadership) have planned for another two round of discussion within the next two weeks. Personally, I think we are in no hurry to conclude the talk, it need not be,” he said.

The Sarawak situation

Meanwhile in Sarawak, the situation is still tense between the local party leaders, who have been trading barbs openly through media ever since the seat negotiations started. Party sources believe that a consensus was still a long way to go.

“The problem in Sarawak is that the local leaders from both parties are very independent and the central leadership could hardly control them in this matter,” a DAP insider said.

“We believe we can solve the dispute in Perak eventually, but our fear is that the negotiation in Sarawak may collapse. This will be a test of our political wisdom,” the insider added.

For states like Selangor and Kuala Lumpur - both considered frontline states by the parties, party sources ruled out any possibilities of open clashes for seats.

However it must be remembered that seat negotiations between PKR and DAP can turn into a messy affair, as proven in the past general election where failed negotiations resulted in split votes and easy win for the BN. On the other hand, the PKR-PAS seat negotiations have always been seen as a rather smooth process.

One thorny issue in the seat talks between PKR and DAP is the latter’s insistence to contest in the Chinese-majority seats, and leaving the Chinese PKR leaders to contest in mixed racial composition seats, which are usually BN stronghold seats.

The success of the talks in Penang on Wednesday appeared to be a breakthrough in this dilemma.

DAP had reportedly said it was eyeing 54 parliamentary and 115 state seats, while PKR was going for 60 parliamentary and 120 state seats.