IPOH: Gerakan leaders and coordinators have been urged to utilise the social media to win the cyber war as part of their preparations to face the 14th general election.
Party president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong said party coordinators must utilise the social media including Facebook, WhatsApp and others to counter all misleading information.
"We have to send the right messsage to the people and voters.
"We lost out in terms of social media in the last general elections. Following that, the party had appointed coordinators to carry out the work on the ground," he said in his speech at the opening of Perak Gerakan delegates conference here yesterday.
At a press conference later, Mah, who is Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister said the party will maintain its status quo in the number of constituencies it will contest in the upcoming general polls.
In the 23th general election, the Barisan Nasional (BN) component party contested in 12 parliamentary and 33 state seats.
On the seats it will be contesting, Mah said they are in the midst of discussing with other component parties to swap four or five seats.
"We feel that the party is strong in certain constituencies and weak (in voters' support) in other seats.
"Swapping of some seats will give BN the best results," he said, adding that the final decision would however be made by the BN Supreme Council.
In the 2013 general elections, Gerakan won a sole parliamentary seat and three state seats. It won an additional parliamentary seat in the Teluk Intan in a by-election in 2014, through Mah.
Mah also expressed confidence that BN would be able to win additional state seats in Perak in the next general election. The coalition which helms the state, currently holds 31 seats, with rest of the seats in the 59 strong state assembly being held by opposition parties.
He attributed the possible increase of seats to the leadership of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir who had implemented various programmes, which benefited the people.