MARANG – PAS will place its candidate for the Port Dickson Parliamentary by-election (PRK) scheduled on Oct 13.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said the announcement on the candidate would be made in Port Dickson tonight.
Abdul Hadi, who is also Marang Member of Parliament, said the decision was made on the basis of keeping the democratic system alive and wanting the people to have a choice in determining their leaders although the PRK was being held in a hurry.
“Even though we disagree because it is being done in a hurry, we do not want to waste it by not doing our work. At least we are keeping in training … it is not impossible that we can win,” he told reporters after chairing the PAS Central Committee’s Daily Meeting at Rusila, yesterday (September 26) night.
On the decision of UMNO to boycott the by-election, Abdul Hadi said the co-operation between the two parties would not be affected because it involved two different things.
“We take into account the waves of the Sungai Kandis and Seri Setia by-elections which saw the people’s resurgence over the unhappiness they felt with PH.
“We invite all parties to cooperate in this PRK. The PAS candidate is someone with influence,” he said, refusing to give a picture of the personality of the PAS candidate despite the various questions from reporters.
He added that PAS had previously given way to UMNO and MIC to contest, but when no candidate was proposed, PAS decided not to let Parti Keadilan Rakyat president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim win unchallenged.
The Port Dickson’s parliamentary seat was vacated by incumbent Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah to pave the way for Anwar to compete to become a member of parliament.
So far, besides Anwar and the PAS candidate, the Malaysian People’s Party had also confirmed that it would be fielding a candidate and another candidate would be social media personality Stevie Chan Keng Leong.
The Election Commission fixed the Port Dickson PRK on Oct 13, nomination day was set on Sept 29 while early voting would be on Oct 9.
— BERNAMA
