PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Former ruling party Umno and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) have agreed on the terms of an electoral pact that is set to be unveiled by the end of next month.

Under the agreement, both parties will not contest against each other in state and parliament seats, paving the way for straight fights between ruling coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) and the two opposition parties in Malay majority seats in the next general election.

“The terms of the pact were finalised and agreed to in a meeting between our parties last week. We are now trying to find a suitable date and venue for the ceremony to launch and sign the Umno-PAS charter,” Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa told The Star.

He said there was no need for the pact to be approved at Umno’s annual general assembly in November because Umno’s supreme council had given its endorsement.

For now, he said the pact would only involve Umno and PAS.

“However, we aim to eventually expand this agreement to include other parties so that it will cover the interests of all groups in the country,” he added.

A name has also been agreed on for the pact, which will be announced at the launch ceremony.

Tan Sri Annuar said the launch would be attended by party leaders including Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his PAS counterpart Abdul Hadi Awang.

On Sunday, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was reported as saying that the agreement between the two parties, which he described as a charter, would also involve several other groups, including NGOs.

He said some PAS officials, who were part of a joint PAS-Umno committee to discuss the pact, had to be replaced after they were voted to other positions in PAS during the party’s internal polls in June.

As such, PAS had requested Umno for a delay in launching the pact to give the new members of the committee time to get up to speed.

Asked about the delay request, Mr Annuar said Datuk Tuan Ibrahim had mentioned September as a possible date for the launch of the pact.

“We agreed on a date in September, but we are now trying to get an earlier date as everything is ready,” he added.

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