Penang PKR Women chief ready to contest Sungai Bakap again

Former Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Sungai Bakap state assembly seat Nurhidayah Che Rose expressed her readiness to contest again if given the opportunity.

Based on the seat distributions in the 15th general election, Nurhidayah, 33, said the Sungai Bakap seat is allocated to female candidates from the Harapan coalition.

"God willing, I am ready to contest again to represent Harapan-BN if given the opportunity. It will be my chance to make up for my narrow defeat in last year’s state election.

"However, the leadership will determine the candidate. I’ll leave it to the party and PKR president (Anwar Ibrahim)," the Penang PKR Women chief told Malaysiakini yesterday.

The Sungai Bakap by-election was triggered by the death of its incumbent, PAS’ Nor Zamri Latiff, on May 24.

Last year, Zamri won the seat with 15,433 votes while Nurhidayah (above) garnered 13,870 votes.

At that time, Sungai Bakap voters comprised 59.4 percent of Malay voters, 22.5 percent (Chinese), 17.4 percent (Indian) and 0.7 percent of other races.

Focus on young voters

Commenting on her previous defeat, Nurhidayah said the party’s machinery needs to focus on gaining the confidence of young voters in the unity government.

She reckoned young voters were a factor in her defeat.

"If given another chance, I will redouble my efforts and work harder than before, especially in building up the trust of young people.

"In addition, I am confident that the continuous work at the state assembly and Nibong Tebal Parliament level after Harapan-BN took power will add value to seize the seat from the opposition.

"At the Parliament and state assembly level, a lot of attention is given to solving the problems of the people here, especially involving the water supply," she said.

In the last state election, Sungai Bakap was the only seat in the Nibong Tebal parliamentary constituency won by Perikatan Nasional, while the other two seats, Jawi and Sungai Acheh, were won by Harapan-BN candidates.

It was reported earlier that the Election Commission will hold a meeting on June 6 to discuss the Sungai Bakap by-election.

Such meetings are usually held to set important dates for the election process, including the polling date. - Mkini