KUCHING, April 24 — PKR today declared it will not bow to outside pressure to surrender more seats to DAP in Sarawak for the next general election, saying it will discuss the matter with the Pakatan Rakyat leadership before making any decision.

At a press conference in Kuching today, PKR leaders pointed out that its vote swing in non-Chinese majority areas had been greater than DAP’s during the just-concluded state polls although the latter party had fared better at winning.

During the 10th Sarawak state polls last Saturday, DAP secured 12 of the 15 state seats that it contested while PKR triumphed in three of the 49 seats where it ran.

Collectively, PR succeeded in garnering 45.5 per cent of popular votes, up eight per cent from the last state polls in 2006.

“Our de facto leader (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) said it was an impressive feat, specifically if you look at the swing of votes garnered.

“We noticed that even in some Dayak-majority areas, the swing towards PKR went up as high as 30 per cent, even in the Orang Ulu seats.

“[E]ven though we lost, look at how the votes swung... it was even greater than in the city centre,” said PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar after the press conference.

Following last Saturday’s polls, media reports said DAP will be lobbying to field more of its candidates in the coming general election, in view of its performance.

Prior to the polls, DAP and PKR were at loggerheads over seat distribution, with DAP lobbying at first to contest in 20 seats instead of 15.

PKR also came at odds with Sarawak National Party (SNAP), which had initially declared its backing for PR. But the Sarawak-based opposition party later fielded 26 candidates independently when seat negotiations broke down, forcing multi-cornered fights with PKR.

“On the question about DAP, we reserve our comment. We have sufficient support to say that we are on the right track, and in the context of Sarawak, any grievances will be brought to the right forum.

“We have told our leaders not to participate in public negotiations... we will raise the matter up in the PR presidential council,” said Nurul Izzah.

She added that the party will not yet decide on the number of seats it planned to contest in the coming general election and will allow its Sarawak leaders to decide independently.

Nurul also said the possibility of SNAP joining the pact will not be discussed at party level but will instead be raised with the PR leadership.

DAP’s Lim Kit Siang had made the suggestion that SNAP join forces with DAP, in order to capitalise on the swing of Dayak votes for the opposition.