Parti Sosialis Malaysia will make a final decision on whether to contest the Semenyih state seat in Selangor during a meeting this weekend.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, PSM central committee member S Arutchelvan said: “Most likely, we will be contesting.”

“We will have one final meeting to reach a decision. We also want to look at the voting trend in (last Saturday's) Cameron Highlands by-election."

Arutchelvan said as far as the Semenyih PSM division and sentiments on the ground are concerned, the party would be contesting the seat.

He pointed out that PSM has contested the seat during previous elections, and had performed well in the past before the last redelineation exercise took place.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the party has done a lot of work on the ground in Semenyih.

“When we did not contest in Cameron Highlands (despite doing a lot of work on the ground), many were unhappy with the decision,” he added.

Arutchelvan said the March 2 contest for Semenyih would also serve as a good platform to raise issues concerning the Selangor government.

“It would be a good opportunity to highlight these issues, since the election has no significance on the status of the federal or state governments,” he added.

Asked if he would be named as the candidate, Arutchelvan replied: “Not necessarily, it could be someone else as well.”

In the last general election, Arutchelvan garnered 1,293 votes in a four-cornered fight.

The Semenyih seat fell vacant after its incumbent, Bersatu's Bakhtiar Mohd Nor, died three weeks ago.