PENANG: Gerakan Rakyat president Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai will likely contest the Bayan Lepas state seat in next month’s Penang state election, against Amanah’s incumbent assemblyman Azrul Mahathir Aziz.

Gerakan will contest a total of 36 state seats in the six state elections, four considered “safe zones,” including one in Penang.

The party will field 19 candidates in Penang, 18 of which are Bagan Dalam, Berapit, Machang Bubok, Perai, Bukit Tengah, Bukit Tambun, Air Putih, Kebun Bunga, Pulau Tikus, Padang Kota, Pengkalan Kota, Datok Keramat, Sungai Pinang, Air Itam, Paya Terubong and Pantai Jerejak.

The candidate for the last remaining seat is still undecided mainly because Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and PAS grassroots are unhappy their parties had to sacrifice the seat for Gerakan.

Due to the strong resistance from the PAS grassroots, Perikatan Nasional decided in yesterday’s meeting to give Bersatu’s Bayan Lepas seat to Dominic Lau instead.

The Bayan Lepas state seat has 25,134 Malay voters (63.22%), 11,988 Chinese voters (30.16%), 2,240 Indian voters (5.66%) and 382 others (0.96%).

According to a source, Lau as Penang PN chairman will announce the names of state election candidates earliest by Wednesday night.