Guan Eng (centre) during a press conference at his office at Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (KOMTAR) in George Town. — Bernama photo
GEORGE TOWN: The DAP-led Penang government will give time to the DAP’s partners in the Pakatan Harapan pact to have consultations on the proposed snap election for the state, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
He said at a press conference at Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak here today that any decision on a snap election should be a joint one in the spirit of Pakatan Harapan cooperation by taking into account the views of every partner.
“We will not take any unilateral decision; we will continue with the consultations with our partners (PKR and Parti Amanah Negara).
“We will give adequate time for them to consider but, of course, not forever,” he said.
PKR Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, PKR Vice President Nurul Izzah Anwar and PKR Election Strategy Director Saifuddin Nasution were also present at the press conference.
After the press conference, Lim had an audience with Penang Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas at Seri Mutiara here.
Lim, who was accompanied by State Secretary Datuk Seri Farizan Darus, was at Seri Mutiara for almost an hour, but it was not known what was discussed.
The Penang state legislative assembly has 40 seats, of which 19 are held by DAP, 10 by PKR, 10 by Barisan Nasional and one by PAS.
Local media recently reported Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy as saying that DAP had listed two options as the response to the two corruption charges filed against Lim, who is also the DAP secretary-general.
The first option was to hold a snap election to gauge the people’s response to the charges against Lim, and the second was to wait for the next general election due in August 2018.
Lim was charged in the High Court on June 30 on two counts of corruption related to conversion of an agricultural zone to a housing zone as well as the purchase of land and bungalow at below market price.
At the press conference, Lim said DAP would continue consultations on the state election and that it would not be called unilaterally so as to maintain trust in the pact.
Azmin said PKR appreciated the DAP stand which gave room for Pakatan Harapan partners to have consultations without making a unilateral decision.
“To be fair to Keadilan (PKR), we never said no but we are yet to be convinced on the state election. I will return to Kuala Lumpur and hold discussions with Keadilan and defend the spirit of coalition,” said Azmin who had earlier met Lim, along with Nurul Izzah and Saifuddin.
Azmin said their meeting with Lim was fruitful and went well.
The PKR political bureau met on Tuesday to discuss current political issues, including the proposed snap election. — Bernama