PKR says it will contest the Slim state by-election

PKR will contest the Slim state seat which has been vacated following the death of BN's Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib.

In a statement yesterday, Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak (above) said the party will field a candidate in the forthcoming by-election.

"I would like to express my condolence to the family of Khusairi, who passed away yesterday afternoon.

"PKR will defend his legacy by fielding a candidate from the area. We will continue the effort to defend the welfare of the people as the opposition during this challenging time," he said.

"As the country faces the Covid-19 and economic crises, the reformasi movement will continue, for the sake of justice," Farhash said.

Khusairi, 59, passed away due to a heart attack.

He was a four-term Slim state representative and once the chairperson of the National Film Development Board (Finas).

Khusairi won the Slim state seat in 2004 and retained it twice with comfortable majorities.

However, in 2018, he retained the seat with only 44.8 percent of the votes cast, with a Bersatu candidate coming in second (33 percent), followed by a PAS candidate (22 percent).

Since March, Umno, Bersatu, and PAS have been in an alliance.

Slim is a rural constituency where Malays make up three-quarters of the voters and is part of the Tanjung Malim parliamentary constituency.

Meanwhile, disputed Bersatu secretary-general Marzuki Yahya said the party has not discussed whether it will field a candidate in the by-election.

"We have not discussed (about this as it is) still too early, but the seat was contested by Bersatu in the past general election," he told Malaysiakini.

"We will inform our decision after a by-election date is set," he added. - Mkini