MARANG, April 3 – PAS will allow non-Malay candidates from its Supporters Club or Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS (DHPP) to contest on the party’s ticket in the upcoming 13th general election, according to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang(pic).
“The candidates from the DHPP are from the Chinese, Indian and Iban communities,” he told a press conference at his residence in Rusila, here, today.
He said these candidates would be using the quota of 76 parliamentary seats to be contested by PAS, the number having been jointly agreed upon by the partners in the opposition pact. Hadi said the candidates from the DHPP and the party’s Dewan Muslimat (women’s wing) would be contesting in mixed-race constituencies in view of the DHPP’s positive response towards PAS.
The Marang member of parliament also said that if additional seats were given by its allies in the pact for PAS to contest, it was prepared to provide the candidates. Hadi said the 76 parliamentary seats allocated to PAS, were 10 more than the
number it contested in the last general election in 2008, in which it won 24 seats.
He said with candidates from the DHPP contesting, he was confident that the number of votes received by PAS from non-Malay voters would be a surprise and would have an impact on the outcome of the 13th general election. The party also hoped that their candidacy would result in a wave of young voters backing the opposition, thus helping it capture some targeted states, he added.
Asked which seat he would be contesting, Hadi declined to reveal but said the announcement of candidates would be made soon. Meanwhile, Hadi also said that PAS was willing to offer DAP candidates the use of its symbol if DAP is deregistered by the Registrar of Societies (ROS). He said the move was made as the sharing of logo had happened before with the opposition parties in Sabah dan Sarawak, such as using the PKR logo.
“As reported by the media, action might be taken against DAP over its central executive committee election. If DAP is then not allowed to use its symbol (rocket), we are prepared to offer the use of the PAS symbol, he added.
BERNAMA
