KUALA LUMPUR: Nurul Izzah Anwar is confident of retaining the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat although she is likely to go head-on against minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin in the general election on May 5.
“I’m confident of winning the seat. The mood for change is reverberating throughout the country. In Lembah Pantai you have multiracial and diversified group of voters whom we are confident will be with us,” said Nurul, the PKR vice president.
Nevetheless, Nurul is not taking anything for granted and is keeping tabs on the happenings on the ground in her constituency, especially on possible irregularities in the electoral roll.
“We started our groundwork with the electoral roll. We have about 400 polling agents and looking for more as they will be our frontliners during the elections,” she added.
The 33-year-old mother of two, and daughter of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Nurul created an upset in her debut outing in 2008, beating Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
She polled 21,728 votes against Shahrizat’s 18, 833, winning by a majority of 2,895. Lembah Pantai has about 57,000 voters comprising 55% Malays, 27% Chinese and 10% Indians.
Nurul’s candidacy for the seat has already been announced while the Barisan Nasional is expected to name its candidate tomorrow.
Observers and political analysts say Nurul may not have an easy ride this time around, having to contend with Raja Nong Chik, a man with much influence in the area.
The Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister has shored up support for himself in the constituency. He is also the Lembah Pantai Umno division chief.
“Pakatan will protect the Malays and they need not unduly worry about their rights being trampled. Their rights are enshrined in the constitution will be protected,” she added.
Nominations of candidates for 13th general election will be on April 20 and polling has been fixed for May 5.
