MELAKA: Melaka DAP will continue to defend the Pengkalan Batu seat, says state DAP chief Datuk Tey Kok Kiew.

       He said DAP would field a right candidate at the state seat after Pakatan Harapan rejected incumbent Datuk Norhizam Hassan Baktee as its candidate for the state seat.

       "We have our own candidate for the state seat and currently, our list of potential candidate names is waiting for the Pakatan leadership’s endorsement," he said on Saturday (Oct 23).

       Tey also said that the DAP’s list of candidates, composed of newcomers and incumbents, was now waiting to be finalised by Pakatan leaders.

       Pengkalan Batu was contested by Norhizam, who was then the Melaka DAP deputy chief during the 14th General Election (GE14).

       He won the seat with a majority of 2,756 votes before crossing over to the Barisan Nasional/Perikatan Nasional-led state government in March 2020.

       Earlier, Melaka Pakatan chairman Adly Zahari said negotiations on seat distribution among the coalition’s component parties for the Melaka state election were expected to be completed before the middle of next week.

       Adly, who was also Melaka Parti Amanah Negara chief, said his party was expected to contest between eight and 10 seats.

       "There are several more seats which have yet to be decided and we will hold further discussions with our Pakatan partners," he said.

       Adly, who was former Melaka chief minister, said Pakatan would be contesting all the 28 seats up for grabs.

       The Election Commission has set Nov 8 for nominations, Nov 20 for polling and Nov 16 for early voting.