Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has revealed that it will only be vying for seats in BN strongholds in this general election.
PSM deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan told reporters at a press conference yesterday that the decision to still contest came after much deliberation within the party’s central committee.
“Even though PSM has failed (in the electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan), we are still taking the stand that we will not join other electoral groups,” said Arulchelvan, citing examples such as BN and Gerakan Tanah Air, among others.
He added that the party was willing to support candidates from other progressive parties.
Further, the party has also decided that it will not clash with Harapan in seats contested by the coalition – to allow Harapan to focus on winning the seats.
This comes after its electoral pact with Harapan fell through – after the coalition did not make way for PSM to reclaim the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in the upcoming 15th general election (GE15).
PSM also announced that it will not be contesting the Sungai Siput seat.
The party will be targeting the state seat of Ayer Kuning in Perak and the Rembau parliamentary seat in Negeri Sembilan.
Ayer Kuning is a BN stronghold, held by outgoing Perak state exco Samsudin Abu Hassan since the 2004 general elections.
In the 14th general election in 2018, the Rembau parliamentary seat was won by BN’s Khairy Jamaluddin by a majority of 4,364 votes.
Khairy had beaten PKR’s Roseli Abdul Gani who received 31,732 votes and Mustafa Dolah (6,028 votes) from PAS.
PSM’s candidates are S Tinagaran (Rembau) and K S Bawani (Ayer Kuning).
Tinagaran is the state secretary for Negeri Sembilan PSM while Bawani is the Perak PSM chairman.
Arutchelvan also said that as a socialist party, PSM had something different to offer compared to other parties.
“All our candidates are activists, and our candidates will carry the voice of the grassroots.”