By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 11, 2012

PETALING JAYA, April 11 — Victories in a third of the parliamentary seats from Sabah, Sarawak, Johor and Pahang will guarantee that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) takes the next general election, Lim Kit Siang has said.

The DAP parliamentary leader stressed that it was crucial for the federal opposition to make an impact in these states, which have long been considered Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) strongholds.

“Sabah, Sarawak, Johor and Pahang all make up 99 parliamentary seats. If we can win one-third of each state’s parliamentary seats, we would have approximately 33 seats.

“If we then add that to the 82 seats we have now, we will have passed our majority mark and (be) on our way to Putrajaya,” Lim told attendees at a DAP fundraiser last night.

The Ipoh Timor MP pointed out that in the last Sarawak parliamentary election, PR had only won one seat in the state. The pact also took just two seats in Pahang.

PKR contested 97 federal seats in 2008, while PAS and the DAP ran in 66 and 47, respectively.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had said in September last year that the party aims to win 60 federal seats in a general election expected soon.

This was after vice-president Salahuddin Ayub said in July the party wanted to contest 80 federal seats.

Umno has declared it can win back PKR-held seats as the PR lynchpin is seen as the weakest link in the opposition pact.

Election 2008 saw PKR become the largest opposition party in Parliament with a total of 31 MPs after BN suffered its worst performance at the polls ever, ceding five state governments and 82 parliamentary seats.

But it failed to defend Hulu Selangor in a by-election and lost a further six MPs who decided to become independent, allowing the DAP to become the biggest opposition party in Parliament with 28 MPs.

PAS, despite being the largest PR party in terms of membership, had the smallest representation in Parliament, with only 23 MPs after the polls.