Nurul Izzah debunks Guan Eng’s claims on seat negotiations

KUCHING - The PKR-DAP clash over seats in the Sarawak election is still on the boil with PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar stepping up to debunk DAP’s accusations against her party.

Nurul Izzah made it clear that her party’s deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali did not renege on the agreement on seats negotiations in Sarawak.

She said the top party leadership had entrusted Azmin, who is also Selangor Mentri Besar, with resolving the issue with PKR leaders in Sarawak, and he had acted according to the terms of the agreement.

It is understood that the mandate for Azmin to negotiate came from the party’s political bureau.

Nurul  Izzah, who is also PKR national elections chief, described as inaccurate a report in a pro-Pakatan Harapan news portal on the issue that has put PKR and DAP at loggerheads.

In the portal report, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had accused Azmin of “eating your own words” on the seats negotiations.

Lim, who plans to bring the dispute to the Pakatan Harapan leadership after the polls, claimed that he and Azmin had sign the agreement on April 7 but that Azmin had reneged.

“This is a serious matter, you cannot say the negotiation has yet to conclude after you inked the agreement,” Lim had told the news portal.

Lim’s accusations have infuriated PKR leaders who say that DAP is trying to shift the blame.

The blame game has continued as the two parties take on each other in a total of six seats in the polls.

Under the agreement, the two parties were to continue discussing until Sunday, the eve of nominations, failing which they would enter into three-corner fights.

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail then gave Azmin a written authorisation to go to Sarawak and make the final decision for the party on the overlapping claims for the five seats.

She also authorised him to decide on the candidates for those seats.

Sources said that Azmin was on the phone with DAP’s Lim until about 10pm on the eve of nominations and that it was strange Lim is claiming otherwise.

According to Nurul Izzah, communications with DAP continued until the night before nominations but it was unsuccessful.

She appealed for calm and urged the two parties to focus on fighting Barisan Nasional.