Azmin urges voters to not give ‘party of thieves' even one seat

On the eve of the Sungai Kandis by-election, former Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali has told people not to give even one state seat to a “party of thieves”.

“Even though Umno is saying just give them one (seat) but we cannot give even one seat to a party of thieves and crooks in Malaysia.

“We give our votes to (Pakatan Harapan candidate) Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni. I am confident that he will not betray us,” said Azmin, who is now the Economic Affairs Minister, at the grand finale at Taman Seri Andalas in Klang tonight.

Azmin refused to even mention the name of Zawawi’s opponent from BN, Lokman Noor Adam, during his speech.

“To compare Zawawi and that person, who is that?” he asked.

When someone in the crowd helpfully provided Lokman’s name, Azmin quipped, “Don’t say his name”.

Lokman was formerly PKR Youth secretary before he was sacked from the party in 2004. He joined Umno after that.

The grand finale, which saw a mixed crowd of about 1,000 people in attendance, also featured speakers such as current Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Aminuddin Harun, PKR vice-president Xavier Jayakumar and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Wan Azizah spoke in a conversational tone during her speech, joking and interacting with the crowd throughout.

She advised the crowd to go home and rest properly so they can rise early to vote for Zawawi tomorrow.

“Candidate 1, no, candidate 2, no, candidate 3, yes,” she said, mimicking the gesture of marking an ‘X’ on a ballot paper.

Zawawi will be the third candidate on the ballot paper during the polls tomorrow.

The Sungai Kandis state seat fell vacant following the death of former PKR incumbent Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei on July 2 due to lymphoma.

In the May 9 general election, Suhaimi won the seat with a 12,480-vote majority.

Selangor is slated to witness another two by-elections – the Balakong state seat on Sept 8 and the Seri Setia state seat.

The Balakong seat's incumbent Eddie Ng was killed in an accident on July 20 while Seri Setia's assemblyperson Shaharuddin Badaruddin died yesterday after a protracted battle with colon cancer. - Mkini