PKR confident of retaining Selangor

Its communications director, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, also believes there will be no repeat of the 2008 post elections, which saw PKR MPs crossing over to BN.

PETALING JAYA: PKR today expressed confidence that it would retain Selangor, even as BN chief Najib Tun Razak announced this morning a slew of fresh faces in its lineup of candidates vying for the country’s richest state.

“We are aware that the fight for Selangor will be the hottest yet in the whole country. We witnessed ourselves Najib as Selangor BN chief focus all of Umno-BN’s attention towards two objectives: maintaining power in Putrajaya and in winning back Selangor,” said PKR communications director Nik Nazmi.

“But we are confident that with Khalid Ibrahim’s track record as Menteri Besar and the list of candidates we have come up with, we will be able to retain our mandate,” he told reporters at a press conference in the party’s headquarters here.

He said that under Khalid’s lead, Selangor had seen a more efficient, responsive and responsible state government compared to the previous BN administration lead by disgraced former Menteri Besar Khir Toyo.

Nik Nazmi, who was Seri Setia state assemblyman, also pointed to PKR’s new lineup of candidates which he said reflected the party’s multiracial membership, as well as its strong representation of women.

“PKR is the most successful multi-ethnic party in history, as proven in the 12th general election, and we continue to nominate candidates from various backgrounds.

“In this year’s slate of candidates in Selangor, we have 30% representation of women, including new and old faces,” he added.

But he conceded that the state government was not without its flaws, as evident when former PKR member Badrul Hisham Abdullah crossed over to Umno in 2010, shortly after winning the Port Klang parliamentary seat.

“That is why Khalid’s brave move to contest in Port Klang shows how serious we are about moving forward and redeeming the voters’ faith in us. “

Nik Nazmi stressed that, this time around, PKR members were unlikely to crossover once winning their respective seats because the situation was vastly different to that of 2008 election.

“In 2008, the situation was very different. I was thrust in the seat because there was no one else who wanted to run. It was very last minute: three weeks before nomination day.

“This time around, it has been over two years, and there is a long queue of people wanting to run for candidacy. This is good because the party has a better slate of candidates to choose from,” he pointed out.

“We are quite confident that this time, they will be loyal to the party.”