After Sungai Kandis, PAS to skip Balakong by-election too

The party's number 2 cites the huge majority Pakatan Harapan garnered in the last general election.

PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man says the party has the right to decide where it wants to contest.

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS will most likely skip the Sept 8 Balakong by-election as Pakatan Harapan had obtained a huge majority when in retained the constituency in the last polls.

The party’s deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said they did not want to waste time campaigning.

“Unless we feel it is of interest, we may reconsider,” he said in the Parliament lobby here.

The Balakong seat is vacant following the death of Pakatan Harapan assemblyman Ng Tien Chee of DAP in an accident on the Grand Saga Highway on July 20.

In the May 9 polls, Ng won the seat with a majority of 35,538 votes, beating Lim Chin Wah of Barisan Nasional (BN) and Mohamad Ibrahim Ghazali of PAS.

This would be the second by-election the Islamist party would skip after deciding not to contest the Sungai Kandis by-election on Aug 4.

PAS, however, has decided to back the Barisan Nasional in Sungai Kandis.

When asked of the perception people may have of PAS for not contesting in two by-elections, Tuan Ibrahim said the party had the right to choose where it wanted to contest.

“We don’t want to go to the ground for no reason.If we feel like doing so we will. And we don’t want to be tied to anything. We are just taking into account the past factors and the current situation.” -FMT