KUALA BESUT, July 13- PAS needs to work harder in the Kuala Besut by-election due to the increasing support for Barisan Nasional (BN) following the coalition’s victory in the 13th general election (GE13).
Kuala Besut by-election deputy director Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said the people’s increasing support for BN was prompted by several factors, like the party becoming stronger, the recognition given to the Besut leadership to be in the cabinet and the choice of its candidate for the by-election.
He said the personality of the BN candidate, Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman, was of great help due to his religious background and a professional who was at ease with the people.
Idris, who is Second Education Minister, said BN won with a majority of more than 2,000 votes in the last general election and would be impossible for PAS to reduce the deficit within a short period.
The Besut Member of Parliament also hit out at PAS election director Datuk Husam Musa for trying to put the Umno leaders at logger-heads.
Idris also confirmed postings by bloggers that PAS candidate for the Kuala Besut by-election Endot@Azlan Yusof was active in Jerteh Umno and was a committee member of the party’s youth movement.
Polling for the Kuala Besut state by-election is on July 24. The by-election has been necessitated by the death of assemblyman Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar of the BN of lung cancer on June 26.
He had won the seat with a 2,434 majority by beating Napisah Ismail of PAS in the general election on May 5. Kuala Besut has 17,683 voters.
– BERNAMA
