BALING: The Unity Government has agreed in principle to provide an allocation for opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), but only for their administrative expenses, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

He said the matter was being finalised, with discussions being conducted by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof with the relevant quarters, and an announcement on it would be made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"At this stage, we agreed to provide the allocation to cover administrative expenses," he told reporters during his walkabout programme at Desa KEDA Sadek here today.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Minister of Rural and Regional Development, said when asked whether the government would provide allocations for the opposition MPs

Prior to this, Fadillah was reported by the media as saying that no conditions were set by Perikatan Nasional (PN) during initial discussions on financial allocations for opposition MPs.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH) were in the final stage of discussion on the seat allocation process for the state election in Kedah.

"We are finalising the distribution of the seats for the election in Kedah. For the other (five) states, the matter will be announced when I am there," he said.-- BERNAMA