PETALING JAYA – PAS today confirmed that it would be contesting the Port Dickson by-election, which is scheduled to be held on Oct 13.
Party president Abdul Hadi Awang said PAS would name its candidate tomorrow night.
“(The candidate who will stand in the by-election) is of Anwar’s calibre,” he said at a press conference in Terengganu, referring to PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim, who will be contesting the by-election in Negeri Sembilan.
Hadi, who is also the Marang MP, said the party decided to contest the by-election to “keep democracy alive”.
“We want to give voters a choice, even though we do not agree with the manner in which the by-election was triggered. We cannot allow democracy to die,” he said, adding that while winning the by-election would be a difficult task, it was also not impossible.
The Islamist party’s decision to stand in the by-election comes a day after Umno said it would opt out of the race.
Hadi went on to say that the party did not share Umno’s view on boycotting the by-election.
The Port Dickson seat fell vacant after its incumbent Danyal Balagopal Abdullah stepped down to make way for PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim who is attempting to return to Parliament.
Danyal, a former naval officer, won the Port Dickson seat with 36,225 votes, beating Barisan Nasional’s VS Mogan (18,515 votes) and PAS’ Mahfuz Roslan (6,594 votes) in the May 9 general election.
Although PAS lost the Port Dickson seat in the last general election, Hadi said he was optimistic of the party’s chances especially after seeing an increase in votes for the opposition in the Sungai Kandis and Seri Setia by-elections.
While PKR won the last two by-elections in Selangor, Barisan Nasional managed to secure 9,585 votes in Sungai Kandis, while PAS managed to obtain 9,698 votes in Seri Setia.
– https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com
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