KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan (PH) has rejected a bid by Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) to formalise a cooperation for the 15th General Election (GE15).
PSM will call for a meeting tomorrow to discuss its next step, including whether to contest in GE15 or drop out altogether.
PSM deputy chairman, S. Arutchelvan, said PH informed PSM of its rejection of the cooperation bid via a letter today.
"With no seats allocated for PSM, we understand that PH has no intention of forming a cooperation with PSM for this election.
"We regret that this was told to us quite late, seeing that PKR deputy president, Rafizi Ramli, had previously said that a seat would be allocated to PSM and Muda," he said in a statement.
PSM had previously said that it had submitted an application to join PH and formalise a cooperation for GE15.
PH had also agreed to establish a committee to discuss with PSM and Muda on the cooperation.
Arutchelvan said PSM's bid to cooperate with PH was based on the views and hopes of its members and supporters.
"In the two discussions with PH, PSM had submitted a minimal application. We asked that PSM chairman, Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, be allowed to contest in the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat as he is a winnable candidate.
"We had also suggested two other parliamentary seats in the event PH rejected the Sungai Siput idea. We had also asked for three state seats to be allocated to PSM.
"PH's negotiations team, comprising Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR vice-president) and Steven Sim (former Bukit Mertajam MP), said the matter would be resolved by the PH Presidential Council, but in the end the answer we received was a disappointing one," he said.
Arutchelvan said following the development, PSM will call for a meeting tomorrow to discuss its next step and decide whether to contest in GE15 or otherwise.
