PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj told FMT the party’s members had pushed for a proposal to seek an electoral pact with PH as they realised that it cannot win seats on its own.

However, he said PSM has no plans to formally join PH as a component party.

“The party does not have an issue with its candidates using the PH logo. This is to avoid clashing with the coalition in the election,” Jeyakumar said.

“The most important thing for PSM is to ensure that its elected representatives are given some degree of independence to discuss issues that matter to the working class in both the Dewan Rakyat and state legislatures.

“Our analysis of certain issues is different from PH’s, so we need to have some independence to put forward our views, except on confidence and supply issues.”

He said they included the party’s views on labour laws, public transport, free trade agreements, and state land management.

Jeyakumar said seeking to join PH as a full-fledged member would be a “very complicated process” for PSM.

“We have to go through a lot of negotiations. Also, what happens if there are neoliberal policies that we don’t agree with in their manifesto? It is too complicated,” he said.

PSM, founded in 1998, contested GE13 under the Pakatan Rakyat ticket, winning the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in Perak and the Kota Damansara state seat in Selangor.

Jeyakumar, who defeated former MIC president S Samy Vellu for the Sungai Siput seat in GE12, retained the seat in GE13. Nasir Hashim, then the PSM chairman, failed to retain the Kota Damansara state seat.

Contesting under the PSM banner, Jeyakumar lost the Sungai Siput seat in GE14.