BARISAN Nasional (BN) is ready to contest the Kemaman parliamentary by-election if it is held though BN lost with a big majority in the 15th General Election (GE15), said BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Election Court last week nullified PAS candidate Che Alias Hamid’s victory in the GE15.
However, Zahid touted that there might still be a springing surprise on the cards.
“We can challenge even if we are the underdogs in the current situation. We are confident the people and voters can make the right choice and support (BN) again,” he said after officiating the launch of the MyFutureJobs Career Carnival at Felda Chemomoi today.
The Terengganu Election Court nullified the victory of Che Alias with Judge Datuk Anselm Charles Fernandis saying the petitioner Wan Mohamad Hisham Wan Abdul Jalil (a voter) succeeded in proving that corruption had taken place intending to influence voters in GE15, according to Bernama news report on Sept 26.
PAS has yet to decide whether it will appeal the decision.
In GE15 held in November 2022, Che Alias won the Kemaman parliamentary seat with a majority of 27,179 votes after obtaining 65,714 votes to defeat BN’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Said (38,535 votes), Pakatan Harapan’s Hasuni Sudin (8,340 votes) and Pejuang’s Rosli Ab Ghani (506 votes).
In August, PAS won the by-election in Kuala Terengganu with a bigger majority, garnering 68,369 votes on Aug 12, 2023, against 63,016 in November 2022.
The Kuala Terengganu by-election was called following the disqualification of the incumbent, Ahmad Amzad Hashim on June 27, 2023. The question is whether BN can create a surprise this time around. – Sept 30, 2023
Main photo credit: The Star
