PKR will plan for victory, despite Nurul Izzah’s views, says Saifuddin

 

PKR’s prospects of winning the general election should be kept within the party as it could affect voters’ support, says Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

PETALING JAYA: While Nurul Izzah Anwar’s “realistic views” on the 15th general elections (GE15) are valid, PKR would formulate strategies to turn the tide, the party’s secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.

Saifuddin said recent remarks by vice-president Rafizi Ramli and former vice-president Nurul Izzah about the party’s election chances could be viewed by voters as being “defeatist”, and could affect the party’s image.

He said PKR had strategists and leaders who could come out with strategies for victory. Neither would PKR settle for being an opposition “with dignity”, he said.

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His comments come in the wake of certain party members who said Pakatan Harapan should not be overconfident of their chances at GE15, adding the opposition coalition should be prepared to wait for two election cycles before regaining power.

Rafizi had said recently that it would be better for PKR and PH to settle and remain in the opposition “with dignity”, while Nurul Izzah said PH would need at least 10 more years before it can regain power.

Saifuddin said he understood that Nurul Izzah had taken a “realistic approach based on the party’s data analysis and came up with a prediction model”.

But PKR had strategists and leaders “able to formulate strategies to turn the tide,” he said in an interview with FMT.

He said views about PKR’s prospects of winning the general election should be kept within the party as it could affect voters’ support.

“Communications within the party and those with the public should be different. Out there, we should be instilling the mood of confidence and victory in the voters. That would be the right strategy.”

He said it would be hard for PKR to gain support from fence-sitters if the party had given up by merely campaigning to become an opposition “with dignity”, he said.

“Fence-sitters will only support those who have the chance of winning elections. If the party has the chance of winning and forming the government, then they will shift towards PKR,” he said. - FMT