Harapan prepared to field young candidates in Johor polls - Anwar

 

Pakatan Harapan chair Anwar Ibrahim said the coalition is prepared to field young candidates in the upcoming Johor state election.

He said the central leadership will discuss the matter with Johor Harapan.

"Our approach is that candidates must be strong, young, and include women. Then we will seek to get all (component) parties involved.

"Of course, we will have young candidates from among our youth leadership,” he told reporters after an engagement session with young people at a restaurant in Port Dickson today.

Anwar, who is the Port Dickson MP, urged the Election Commission (EC) to conduct the state election without campaigning restrictions this time, saying Harapan’s strategy of face-to-face meetings with the people has been its strength.

He also said if Harapan cooperates with other opposition parties, they could defeat Umno-led BN.

Anwar, who is PKR president, believed opposition parties could work together if they were consistent in fighting issues such as abuse of power and corruption.

He said although the government called for the snap polls in the belief that it could win big, Harapan had its own strategy to defeat them.

The media today reported Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin as saying that Harapan’s desire to cooperate with other opposition parties for the Johor polls would only lead to a repeat of the failed formula of the Harapan federal government after the last general election.

Prior to the dissolution of the Johor state legislative assembly on Saturday, the BN-led state government held 28 seats while Harapan had 27.

The Kempas seat was left vacant following the death of its state assemblyperson, former Johor menteri besar Osman Sapian, on Dec 21 last year.

The EC is meeting on Feb 9 to fix the dates for the snap polls.

- Bernama