PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has unveiled the party’s 58 state election candidates across all six states.
Selangor with 20 seats makes up nearly half of PKR’s seats, followed by Penang (13), Kedah (10), Negeri Sembilan (6), Kelantan (6) and Terengganu (3).
In Terengganu, Anwar also announced that PKR’s former Terengganu state chief Azan Ismail will contest the Kuala Terengganu parliament by-election, held simultaneously on Aug 12.
Anwar, who credited the performances of Selangor caretaker menteri besar Amirudin Shari and Negeri Sembilan caretaker menteri besar Aminuddin Harun, said both leaders will be fielded to defend their seats.
He added that the duo will also retain their chief executive positions under a new unity state government.
Amirudin will defend his N16 Sungai Tua seat for the fourth term, while Aminuddin will contest the N13 Sikamat seat.
The PKR candidate announcement took place at Laman MBSA, Shah Alam.
IN SELANGOR, PKR is taking over the battle in N18 Hulu Kelang, where its former deputy president Azmin Ali is expected to be nominated for Perikatan Nasional.
The seat was won by Amanah’s Saari Sungib in 2018. PKR is fielding Juwairiya Zulkifli, who is moved from her incumbent seat of N10 Bukit Melawati.
In exchange, Anwar said PKR has agreed to swap N41 Batu Tiga with Amanah, thus dropping its incumbent Batu Tiga representative Rodziah Ismail from the state polls.
Rodziah, who has held the seat for three consecutive terms since 2008, is also a member of parliament after she won the Ampang seat in the recent general election.
This round of state polls also sees PKR ceding N17 Gombak Setia to Umno. The seat was won by Hilman Idham, who defected from PKR in 2020.
Umno announced on Friday that it is fielding Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, the Selangor Umno liaison chief, for the Gombak battle.
In a surprising decision, PKR is maintaining N40 Kota Anggerik state assemblyperson Najwan Halimi to defend the seat.
Najwan, a first-term representative, was recently caught in a controversy after his Whatsapp message labelling PSM as “parti India estet” was leaked and went viral on social media, leading to him being severely criticised by many.
Some jeers were heard from the crowd attending the announcement event when Anwar announced Najwan’s name, before the Prime Minister said that PKR's position is determined by the party president and stressed that PKR is a party for all races.
In total, PKR will be contesting 20 seats in Selangor.
IN NEGERI SEMBILAN, PKR will be defending all its six state seats that it won in 2018, namely N13 Sikamat, N14 Ampangan, N18 Pilah, N20 Labu, N29 Chuah and N33 Seri Tanjung.
The party had contested 14 seats in the 14th general election but lost to Umno in eight.
Ismail Ahmad, who is in his first term as Labu state assemblyperson, will defend his seat, while four new faces will contest in Ampangan, Pilah, Chuah and Seri Tanjung.
IN PENANG, PKR announced 13 candidates to defend the seats it won in GE14.
Five incumbents will defend their seats in N14 Machang Bubok, N17 Bukit Tengah, N18 Bukit Tambun, N35 Batu Uban and N39 Pulau Betong.
Meanwhile, incumbent N36 Pantai Jerejak assemblyperson and PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has been dropped and will be replaced by the party’s Permatang Pauh Youth chief Fahmi Zainol.
However, Saifuddin’s personal assistant Lee Boon Heng will be contesting in the N24 Kebun Bunga seat.
Saifuddin’s political secretary Johari Kassim will also be fielded in N10 Seberang Jaya. In GE14, the seat was won by Afif Bahardin, who then defected to Bersatu in 2020.
The party has also ceded N21 Sungai Acheh to BN. The seat was once an Umno stronghold before it fell to PKR in 2018.
Incumbent Sungai Acheh assemblyperson Zulkifli Ibrahim defected to Bersatu in 2020.
In KEDAH, PKR will be fielding 10 candidates. The party will defend five seats and field three candidates for seats that were either won by Bersatu or PAS in 2018.
Zamri Yusuf will be the only incumbent defending his seat in N12 Suka Menanti.
In N22 Gurun, incumbent assemblyperson and PKR veteran Johari Abdul will be replaced by his son, Mohamed Firdaus.
As for the N34 Lunas and N29 Sidam state seats which PKR previously won, but due to the defection of its incumbents - Azman Nasrudin and Dr Robert Ling Kui Ee - the party will be fielding new candidates on the battlefield this time round.
Azman and Ling defected to Bersatu in 2020.
IN KELANTAN, PKR will be contesting in six seats, five of which were previously contested by Amanah in GE14. PAS won all of the seats.
One of the six seats, N3 Pasir Pekan was previously contested by Bersatu as then part of Pakatan Harapan. This time, PKR is fielding Zaman Sahri Ibrahim.
BN in GE14 had also contested against Harapan and PAS in all six seats.
PKR is also fielding Naziratun Aini Md Sayuti in N18 Pasir Tumboh as the party’s sole woman candidate in the state.
IN TERENGGANU, PKR is fielding the fewest candidates with only three out of 32 seats, down from the eight seats it contested in GE14.
This time, PKR did not field its candidates in any of the eight seats it previously contested, but instead moved into three seats contested previously by Amanah - N13 Wakaf Mempelam, N22 Manir and N27 Sura.
Yesterday, BN announced that it will contest 108 seats in the six states, the majority of which are in Kelantan.
The Election Commission has set July 29 for official nominations, while early voting will be conducted on Aug 8. - Mkini
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