DURIAN TUNGGAL: Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has confirmed that special discussions with MCA leadership over Melaka election seat allocations ended positively.
Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, said the discussions involved MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, and Melaka BN chairman and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh.
However, he said an announcement on the outcome had been left to Ab Rauf, who was given the mandate to do so.
"The meeting with the MCA president, the Barisan Nasional secretary-general, and the Melaka chief minister showed positive developments.
"I cannot announce it as the Melaka chief minister has been given the mandate to make the announcement. Please direct follow-up questions to him," he said.
He said this after officiating the Jelita (Job Empowerment by Learning and Inclusive Technical Advancement) 12-Hour Intensive Acceleration Training programme at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) here today.
Previously, MCA was reported to have maintained that it would not recognise any candidate from the party announced by BN for the Melaka state election without the agreement of its top leadership.
Wee was reported to have said that announcing candidates without prior consultation and MCA's agreement was unacceptable, while alleging that seats previously contested by the party were given to others.
The development raised questions over the status of two MCA incumbents announced by BN on Saturday night, namely Datuk Ngwe Hee Sem for the Machap Jaya state seat and Datuk Lim Ban Hong for Klebang.
Commenting on the rejection of BN candidates in the Durian Tunggal and Pantai Kundor state seats, Zahid said the coalition would resolve the issue internally.
However, he did not expect the resolution to lead to a change of the candidates announced ahead of nomination day this Saturday.
"I do not see that happening (a change of candidates)... we will take internal steps to resolve this.
"In any by-election or state election, let alone a general election, issues like this arise, not only for BN but also for other coalition parties.
"This is common and we can find the best solution," he said.
BN previously decided to field candidates in 21 of the 28 Melaka state seats, with the remaining seven seats allocated to PAS and its strategic partners.
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