SHAH ALAM (July 5): Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) has confirmed that it will contest eight seats in the Selangor state election next month.

Selangor Amanah chairman Izham Hashim said the eight seats are the state constituencies won by the party in the 14th general election (GE14), namely Sabak, Meru, Pandan Indah, Hulu Kelang, Morib, Seri Serdang, Sungai Ramal and Taman Templer.

“We (parties in the Unity Government) have already got our respective number of seats; in the current phase we are open to swapping seats (with other parties in the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional alliance) but that (process) will be on mutual agreement.

“So far, we have heard (regarding seat swapping) but there is nothing yet, we still have time... We don't just want to contest but also want to see if we can win at that place,” he said at a press conference after making a visit to the location of the Persiaran Mohktar Dahari road-widening project in Puncak Perdana here on Wednesday (July 5).

He said the seat swapping based on mutual agreement is expected to be completed by the middle of next week.

Commenting further, Izham said the party is expected to field 50% new faces, in addition to maintaining a 30% quota for female candidates.

“Amanah candidates are expected to be balanced. I can't announce any names yet, but I can tell you there will be a combination of incumbents, new faces and old people who have been given a new lease of life,” he said.

Voters in Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang and Negeri Sembilan will go to the polls on Aug 12, following the Election Commission (EC)’s decision to hold simultaneous state elections in the six states.

When announcing this on Wednesday, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said nominations would be held on July 29 and early voting on Aug 8.

The Selangor State Assembly has 56 seats.