MELAKA: The contests of up to six-cornered faced by the DAP candidates in the Melaka State Election this time is seen as a big challenge for the party in defending its seats.

DAP election director for the Melaka State Election, Khoo Poay Tiong said such multiple-cornered contests could confuse the voters due to the many party symbols appearing on the ballot papers, which could make choosing the right candidates difficult.

"Melaka DAP would definitely want to retain the eight seats it won in the 14th General Election, so priority will be given to these seats, besides helping the other component parties in Pakatan Harapan (PH) to defend the seven seats they had won.

"It is difficult to predict the results of multi-cornered contests in the Melaka State Election as each political party has its advantages and disadvantages while it is up to the voters to decide," he said at a press conference held at the Melaka DAP Office, here, today.

The eight seats held by DAP in Melaka are Kota Laksamana, Kesidang and Ayer Keroh which will see three-cornered contests); Bandar Hilir (four-cornered); Pengkalan Batu and Bemban (five-cornered); Duyong and Gadek (six-cornered).



MELAKA-DAP (SEATS) 2 (LAST) MELAKA



Khoo said in facing the tough challenge, the DAP election machinery together with that of the other parties in PH would be going to the ground more aggressively in introducing their candidates and logos representing the coalition.

Asked on the DAP strongholds in this state election, he said the outcome could not be determined yet as this would depend on the voters this coming Saturday.

He said a high voter turnout could be one of the deciding factors for DAP and PH to win in this election and he called on the voters to come out and vote so as to fulfil their responsibility as voters.

In this state election, DAP is introducing two new faces while retaining six incumbents.

Melaka has 28 state seats and 495,195 registered voters comprising 240,530 or 48.57 males and 254,666 or 51.43 per cent females.

-- BERNAMA