Rigid seat demands could drive Umno to PH, says PAS

PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari has revealed that PAS is adopting a more pragmatic approach to its cooperation with Umno following past disagreements. During a podcast appearance, Fadhli cautioned that an uncompromising stance on seat allocations could lead to Umno aligning with Pakatan Harapan (PH). He emphasized that PAS has learned from its mistakes in seat negotiations and does not wish to repeat history.

Fadhli pointed out that BN had shown signs of openness to working with both PAS and PH, indicating that they do not want a recurrence of the past. The Umno-led coalition has been indecisive in its approach, switching between cooperation with PN and PH before ultimately agreeing to collaborate with PN for the upcoming election. Shahril Hamdan, co-host of the podcast, suggested that Umno is likely keeping its options open during negotiations, aiming to prevent PAS from becoming overly comfortable with its partnership.

He believed that Umno's leadership was unlikely to fully commit to any arrangement, even if it had already decided which direction to take. Shahril speculated that Umno might be intentionally keeping PAS guessing to discourage excessive seat demands, while also maintaining a similar approach with PH.