Rival DAP leaders contesting social gathering polls converse of balancing assist and criticism of Anwar govt | USAEMALL.com

In his speech, Lim Guan Eng said that this year’s congress has attracted a lot of media attention because a new leadership will be elected.

“Winning or losing is normal in any contest and we must place our faith in the wisdom of our delegates,” he said.

Earlier he told the local media that he was happy to see an increased participation in this year’s party congress and the achievement is contributed by everyone’s efforts.

“Seeing an increase in our representatives is gratifying. It hasn’t been an easy journey,” he was quoted as saying by the News Straits Times.

While the secretary-general is the most powerful position in the party, the DAP chairman wields clout because that person leads a panel of leaders who determine candidates that will stand under the party’s ticket in the national polls and state assembly elections.

With control of 40 parliamentary seats in the 222-member lower house, the party is the second-largest after the opposition right-wing Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), with 43 elected representatives. Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has 31 seats in parliament.

DAP also has 90 seats in the various state assemblies in the country. 

DAP is part of the PH coalition together with PKR, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation.   

PKR and PAS will also be holding internal party polls in May and September, respectively, but both contests are expected to be tame affairs compared to the intensity gripping the DAP elections.

Political analysts and party leaders noted that a divided DAP would create its own set of challenges for Anwar, who has been squeezed in a tightrope walk of juggling the interests of four ideologically diverse political coalitions, comprising more than a dozen parties, in his unity government since assuming the premiership in November 2022.

Multi-racial in outlook but predominantly Chinese in composition, the DAP draws much of its support from urban voters in big towns and cities across Malaysia.