Mukhriz said he rejected the offer as he could not see PAS working together with DAP. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — PAS had approached Pakatan Harapan to form a unity government shortly after GE14, Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir revealed today.

Berita Harian reported him as saying that PH had declined the offer due to political differences and a commitment to keep the ruling coalition intact.

This follows after Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 18 seats, PAS, 15, and Umno, only three out of 36 states seats, leaving all parties with no simple majority of 19 seats to form a government.

Mukhriz explained that PAS, with its 15 state seats, would be the dominant force in the newly formed Kedah government and would have demanded for the majority of the posts in the Kedah State Executive Council and even have the menteri besar position.

“They informed that I could hold the post of menteri besar, however, the exco, usually the party with the most (state seats) will demand.

“I say we have a slight problem because we enter the election as PH, four parties together. We already have an agreement,’’ Mukhriz said, citing it was not right for them to take advantage of the political situation.

Mukhriz also added he rejected the offer as he could not see PAS working together with DAP, another dominant component party in PH, due to the past history of both parties under the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat.

However, Mukhriz admitted that he did not expect the Islamist party to outperform BN in Kedah.

“It is definitely shocking, I admitted that we did not expect such a result. What we expected was cooperation from PAS and Umno.

“However at the end, it seems that the biggest benefactor was PAS and not Umno. In fact, Umno seems to be a victim of the wrong strategy,’’ he said.

Mukhriz said that PH was also influenced by research done by think-tank Invoke that touted PAS would be “wiped out”.

“We were also influenced by the research done by Invoke that PAS would be wiped out. We did not believe 100 per cent as we understood that PAS is quite influential in Kedah.

“But it did affect the way we campaign. At the time we see all the campaign ceramah targeted at BN and Umno,’’ he said.