GEORGE TOWN: DAP has never held discussions with any party outside the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in preparing for the 15th General Election (GE15).

As such, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook said matters such as the possibility of cooperating with Perikatan Nasional (PN) under "one umbrella" to ensure a one-on-one fight with Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming polls, never arose.

He said DAP and PH's focus for now was to strengthen their own parties in facing the polls.

"With regards to the distribution of seats, it is not yet time for us to discuss with any party outside the PH components," he told newsmen after paying a courtesy call on Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow at the latter's office in Komtar today. 

This was Loke's first visit to the Penang DAP chairman after being appointed as DAP secretary-general in the recent party polls.

Also present was DAP national organising secretary Steven Sim.

Commenting further, Loke said DAP and PH wanted to further strengthen and defend the strength they have at this time.

He added that this included all the parliamentary and state seats they won in the last general election as well as the administration of three states under PH, namely Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.

"If we focus on our strengths, DAP and PH still have hope and our position is still strong.

"Let's not forget that if we want to chase other seats and don't take care of the seats and the states we currently helm, it won't benefit us" he added.

On the situation in Penang, Loke said he was confident in Chow's ability as the state DAP chairman to defend the state in the next election.

"The national DAP will give our full support to Penang DAP so that we can continue to get the people's mandate to govern the state for the fourth term. We believe Penang DAP will deliver the results," he said.

Loke also said the national DAP would leave it to Penang DAP to decide on the candidates for the next polls, including new blood to rejuvenate the party, as per the wishes of the grassroots.

"It is normal that in every election, we will introduce new faces. All this is part of rejuvenating the party and preparing the next layer of leadership so that the party will always have new blood.

"We can't put a percentage to it as many of our incumbents now are also young people and we can't simply let them go," he added.