SHAH ALAM, September 22 – Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has maintained that its president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is their sole candidate for the Selangor Menteri Besar (MB) post.
Its secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the party was sticking to its decision on this and that its stand did not violate the state constitution. “Contrary to media reports on this, I wish to stress that PKR remains firm in its stand (on wanting Dr Wan Azizah to be their sole candidate for the post) as per the decision taken by the party leadership earlier and affirmed by our Political Bureau last week.
“Pursuant to this, PKR’s candidate for the MB post has not changed, it is still Dr Wan Azizah, PKR president and Kajang assemblyman,” he said in a statement here Sunday.
Saifuddin also denied that PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had made a compromise on the matter and had given oral approval for another party leader to be a candidate for the post.
It has been widely speculated that PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali was given the green light by Anwar to be an alternative candidate to Dr Wan Azizah.
The media had speculated that Mohamed Azmin (Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman) and Selangor PAS Commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad (Cempaka assemblyman) were the front-runners to be the 15th MB of the state.
Yesterday, The Star newspaper had reported that Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor had granted separate audiences to Mohamed Azmin, Iskandar, state executive councillor from PAS Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (Sijangkang assemblyman) regarding the succession earlier last week.
The report said the audiences were to enable the Sultan to evaluate their suitability for the post of chief executive of the state. The new MB will succeed Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who has handed in his resignation after a fall out with PKR.
The Selangor Palace has since issued a statement that the swearing-in ceremony for the new MB will be held at Istana Alam Shah, Klang at 10.30am on Tuesday and that the name of the new MB would be made know at the latest by tomorrow.
– BERNAMA
