Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara, however, said PH may be reluctant to give up the sole seat it won in the state election last August.

Dr Hafidzah Mustaqim of Amanah, a PAS splinter party, won the Kota Lama seat for PH by a narrow 202-vote majority at the Kelantan state polls.

Chinese voters make up 30% of the 33,043 eligible voters in the constituency.

But Azmi said MCA should not be made to compete with PH to represent the unity alliance in Kota Lama, adding that Chinese voters were likely to throw their support behind PH-BN regardless of who their candidate is.

Instead, he suggested that the unity alliance focus on winning over Malay votes in Kelantan and called for Umno to make way for MCA in a Malay majority constituency.

Azmi, however, warned that the Chinese-based party may find winning a Malay-majority seat “very challenging” unless Umno undergoes a revamp.

“MCA’s strength in Kelantan is closely tied to Umno’s, which is currently weak, so it will affect their chances.”

Azmi was commenting after Kelantan BN chairman Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub said on Saturday that MCA will be given a state seat to contest in the next general election (GE16).

Meanwhile, Syaza Shukri of the International Islamic University Malaysia said PH may be willing to make way for MCA in Kota Lama to focus on bigger seats.

She said PH is aware that it does not have a huge presence in the east coast state, which has been a PAS stronghold since 1990.

“If PH makes way for MCA, it will not lose a winnable seat. If anything, this allows it to use its resources more efficiently.”