By Jerry Choong
SHAH ALAM, July 23 — Parti Amanah Negara is set to contest nine seats for the upcoming Selangor state election, including incumbent Pandan Indah state assemblyman Izham Hashim who will defend his seat.
Party president Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said Izham is one of three candidates who will defend their seats, the other two including Sungai Ramal’s Mazwan Johar and Morib’s Hasnul Baharudin.
“The remaining (six) seats in Selangor will be contested by new candidates, In total, Amanah will be contesting for 31 seats in Selangor, Kelantan, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, and Penang,” he said during the press conference to announce the candidates, which was broadcasted live on Facebook earlier today.
The other Selangor candidates include Samah Hashim in Sabak, Mohd Amran Mohd Sakir in Hulu Bernam, Anfaal Saari in Taman Templer, Danial Al Rashid in Batu Tiga, Abbas Salimi Azmi in Seri Serdang, and Mariam Abdul Rashid in Meru.
Mohamad added that for these state elections, Amanah decided to field more youths and women as candidates.
“Overall about 44 per cent of the candidates consist of women and youths. Out of the 31 candidates, 15 are new faces, seven are women and youths respectively
“The youth candidates were selected to contest based on their active contributions to the party. Since they are moving in the right direction, we felt this would be a good opportunity for them, as they will lead Amanah in the future,” he said.
Outside of Selangor, a prominent Amanah candidate is Kedah Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar. The former deputy minister of human resources is set to contest for the Alor Mengkudu state constituency.
The candidates for five states have been confirmed, save for Terengganu, which Mohamad said is now being finalised.
“InsyaAllah, the negotiations (for Terengganu) will be resolved, as all the other states have been confirmed. At the latest, it will be finalised before the nomination day (on July 29),” he said.
