PETALING JAYA, Feb 15 – Barisan Nasional’s move to put a local to contest the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat has put paid to Pakatan Rakyat’s choice of ousted Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin as candidate for a sensational showdown on April 7.
Deputy prime minister and Perak BN chief Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said today its candidate will be a local, disqualifying its Menteri Besar Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir who represents the Pangkor state seat.
Najib also said that the BN candidate must be someone acceptable to the voters of Bukit Gantang and will be from Umno. He added that name will be announced later.
Earlier, Pakatan Rakyat said it will “automatically” put ousted Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin in Bukit Gantang if Umno also chooses his replacement Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir for the seat, in their bid to position the April 7 parliamentary by-election as a referendum.
“We are not challenging him, but we want to suggest that Zambry contest in Bukit Gantang. If he does so, then automatically, Nizar will be our candidate,” Pas vice-president Datuk Husam Musa said here today.
Perak DAP have been trumpetting Nizar as the “perfect candidate” to contest the by-election after Pas MP Roslan Shaharum died on Feb 1 and have long dared the Barisan Nasional Menteri Besar to stand there as a referendum for the power grab that changed the Perak government.
Only Pas spiritual leader and Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has gone against the idea, saying Nizar should concentrate on getting back his government.
At a press conference today, Husam together with PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali and DAP vice-chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim however said, in principle, both the Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-election would be contested by the same parties that won them in Election 2008.
The Bukit Selambau state seat was vacated by PKR’s Kedah exco member V. Arumugam amid talk of marital problems and pressure from Barisan Nasional to defect. He won as an independent and joined PKR after being guaranteed a state executive council post.
Husam also said that with Umno party polls taking place on March 28, the March 29 nomination date set for the simultaneous by-elections showed that the Election Commission had taken Umno’s interest into consideration.
However, he said that this played into Pakatan Rakyat’s hands as there would be infighting directly after the party polls.
“It will be a setback as out there will be three deputy presidential candidates and eight for the three vice-presidencies. The losing group will be very disappointed,” he said.
Husam also said the uncertainty over whether Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi would step down after the polls would also affect Barisan Nasional’s campaign, claiming that a schedule for Abdullah to continue as Prime Minister up to August had been tabled before the Cabinet and the situation would be similar to that of last month’s Kuala Terengganu by-election, which Pas won comfortably.
“Who will be the captain? The candidate then was selected by Abdullah but Najib had to be the general,” he said.
On when the electoral pact would name its candidates for the two seats, he said it would depend on its strategy, pointing out that in Kuala Terengganu, Umno had named its candidate too early and Datuk Wan Farid Wan Salleh was “shot dead” even before nomination day.
Syed Husin added that there were still very long lists of names for the two seats and that these would be shortlisted and announced at the right time.
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