By Syauqi Jamil
PETALING JAYA: PKR Vice President Nurul Izzah Anwar will be leading the charge for the upcoming Port Dickson by-elections which will feature her father, incoming party President Anwar Ibrahim.
This was announced earlier by PKR Secretary-General Saifuddin Nasution who said that PKR will be forming a formidable election machinery with the cooperation from other Pakatan Harapan (PH) components.
“Port Dickson has been continuously represented by PKR over the last three term. For that we consider it as one of the safest seat.
“Next is to assemble the best brain among PKR with the cooperation from coalition partners to form a formidable election machinery. The machinery will be headed by Nurul Izzah,” he said.
Speaking in a press conference at the PKR headquarters earlier, Saifuddin said this after it was announced that Anwar will be contesting for the constituency.
The seat previously held by Danyal Balagopal Abdullah was vacated today to make way for Anwar’s political comeback.
Saifuddin said that this was part of the process to make Anwar the 8th Prime Minister, in taking over from incumbent premiere Dr Mahathir Mohamad, although not mentioning any particular timeframe.
Upon the resignation, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof will have to notify the Election Commission (EC) on the vacancy. The EC will then need to announce the by-election date within the next 60 days.
Subhead: We’re all in Anwar’s camp now
Commenting on rumours that incumbent PKR Deputy President Mohamed Azmin Ali’s camp was left out during the decision making process, Saifuddin had denied such matters.
He said that the decision was negotiated and tabled at the party’s political bureau meeting which involved all party leadership.
“Anwar said everyone is in Anwar’s camp now. Just wanted to say that when MPs volunteered to vacate their seat (for Anwar), we didn’t ask which camp they’re from.
Anwar who was not present during the conference is on his way back from Hong Kong. Also present was Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul Ghani, Wangsa Maju MP Dr Tan Yee Kew, Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil and PKR veep Rafizi Ramli and Xavier Jayakumar.
