KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — “Convention” dictates that Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) should contest in the two upcoming by-elections in Perak and Selangor, its vice-president Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa asserted today.
The Parit Buntar MP said his party has made it a point to gun for any seat that were previously considered the reserve of PAS and will stick to this stand in in the june 18 battle for Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar.
“It is convention that any seat that PAS contests, Amanah should be there,” he told reporters outside the Dewan Rakyat here.
He cited Penang as an example of PAS seats that had been taken over by Amanah following the formation of the new Amanah-PKR-DAP opposition pact last year, following the breakdown of the Pakatan Rakyat partnership.
Mujahid said his party had informed the Pakatan Harapan, and added that the opposition pact will later make the official announcement of its candidates for the two federal seats.
He said that as the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar parliamentary by-elections are a precursor to the 14th general election, Pakatan Harapan should decide if PAS was to be a part of its bloc.
“The other perspective is that do we consider PAS as part of Pakatan Harapan or just opposition? I would say, give priority to Pakatan Harapan rather than PAS,” he said.
He added that if the Amanah-PKR-DAP pact could clearly state its stand by the time the national elections rolled around, there would not be any more “calls of three-cornered fights”.
He also sarcastically asked if PAS should be counted as being in the opposition just because it is not part of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
In Election 2013, PAS was beaten in both seats by Barisan Nasional (BN) with marginal victories of just 399 votes in Sungai Besar and 1,082 votes in Kuala Kangsar.
Malay Mail Online reported last weekend that the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary by-elections could result in three-way fight with BN and a fractured opposition front.
A PKR leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a three-cornered fight involving PKR, BN and PAS may take place in Sungai Besar, Selangor, while another similar three-way battle could occur in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, with Amanah, BN and PAS all throwing their hats in the ring.
The Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar seats fell vacant after the deaths of their respective MPs, Datuk Wan Muhammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad and Datuk Noriah Kasnon, who were among six people killed in a recent helicopter crash in Sarawak.
The Election Commission announced last week that both the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections will take place on June 18.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/amanah-throwing-hat-in-by-election-ring-against-pas-by-convention-says-veep#sthash.A4HHP7qe.dpuf