JOHOR BARU: Johor PKR is looking at contesting almost half of the 56 state seats in the 15th General Election (GE15).

       Its chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (pic) said this would include racially mixed seats that were previously given to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) to contest in GE14.

       "We expect to contest in almost half the state seats, but it depends on discussions with other Pakatan Harapan parties.

       "We know that PKR has potential to win in constituencies with a mixed racial composition.

       "Some of these mixed seats were given to Bersatu such as Larkin, Kempas and Permas. These are open for us to contest in the next general election.

       "Johor Pakatan has yet to discuss seat allocations for GE15 but we hope support would be given to PKR to contest in racially mixed seats as that is the party's strength," he told reporters after flagging off the PKR Jelajah Nadi programme here on Sunday (Oct 3).

       At present, the Perikatan Nasional-led state government holds 29 seats; Umno has 14, Bersatu 12, MIC two and PAS, one.

       Pakatan has 27 seats: 14 held by DAP, seven by PKR, and six by Parti Amanah Negara.

       On a separate matter, Syed Ibrahim said a proposal from PKR's grassroots to use the party's logo to represent Pakatan in the next general election would not strain its relationship with other component parties.

       "The discussion for the logo is still ongoing and no decision has been finalised by the Pakatan presidential council.

       "Hence, each party is free to give its views on the matter.

       "PKR asked its grassroots' opinion on the matter and many prefer to have the party's logo to represent Pakatan in GE15 as it did in GE14.

       "But in the end, we will abide by the (leadership's) final decision," he said.

       Syed Ibrahim also noted that Johor PKR had started preparing for a general election two years ago.

       "We started preparing (early) as we cannot predict when it would be held. We need to be ready.

       "We have appointed coordinators for state and parliamentary seats. We have completed about 80% of the preparations, including in terms of machinery and voting districts," he said.