SUBANG JAYA: PKR is working to resolve its candidates for several seats which the party will be contesting in the 13th general election.
After a closed meeting between PKR candidates and the party’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim today, the candidates were given their watikah (letters of authorisation).
However, the candidates for a number of seats were not announced, including both the parliamentary and state seats of Negeri Sembilan, and even the Batu parliamentary seat.
At a press conference later, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali said that Anwar will be holding talks with party leaders this evening and hoped to finalise the list.
As for the Labuan parliamentary seat where both PKR and PAS are now staking a claim, he said that negotiations were still ongoing.
“Everything will be discussed by both parties [PKR and PAS] and we still hope for a one on one fight between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional,” said Azmin.
PKR wants to field corporate bigwig Ibrahim Menudin while Labuan PAS had announced that its information chief Hadnan Mohamad would be the Pakatan candidate for the seat.
On the Semenyih state seat, he said that PSM had been told of PKR’s decision to field Serdang PKR division chief Hamidi Hassan and PKR is now awaiting a response from PSM.
PKR considers all views
Yesterday, PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan said that PSM will contest the seat using its own party symbol if PKR stood by its decision to field Hamidi for the Semenyih seat.
When asked if the tussle for seats is causing the delay in finalising the candidates, Azmin said PKR is taking into account everyone’s point of view.
“In PKR, we listen to everybody. That is why it has taken time for us to make a decision for certain seats.
“What’s important is to continue discussions and reach a consensus which will benefit the rakyat,” he said.
Commenting on the candidates themselves, he stressed that they were not ordinary candidates but important agents for change.
Azmin explained that today’s ceremony only involved candidates from Peninsular Malaysia.
“Although the candidates for Sabah and Sarawak have been decided, they were not called for today’s ceremony due to problems of logistics,” he said.
On the breakdown of parliamentary seats where PKR will be contesting, he said that PKR will be fielding 102 candidates; 64 in Peninsular Malaysia, 21 in Sabah and 17 in Sarawak.
“PKR will contest in 162 state seats with the exception of Sarawak. More than 50% of our candidates for the general election will be new faces,” said Azmin.
