KUALA TERENGGANU: The Kuala Terengganu by-election is a “godsent second chance” for the people here to ensure the state is represented in the Federal Government, says Pakatan Harapan candidate Azan Ismail (pic).
Azan, who is facing off against PAS’ Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim in the parliamentary seat, said it would be an uphill battle but he felt blessed to be given the opportunity.
In the 15th General Election last November, Perikatan Nasional swept all eight parliamentary seats in the state.
Ahmad Amzad won the Kuala Terengganu seat with a majority of 40,907 votes – a difficult feat to beat, Azan acknowledged.
Despite this, the Kuala Terengganu PKR division chief believes voters will be able to make a wise decision in light of the verdict of the Terengganu Election Court nullifying the previous election results on June 27.
On Jan 3, Terengganu Umno filed a petition at the High Court to annul the results under the Election Offences Act 1954, which ultimately led to the by-election.
Azan said the people were now more aware and educated on the whole situation and would be able to decide for themselves.
“Following the case, I’m confident that voters will be able to reflect once again before casting their ballots.
“The court verdict has proven that PAS should not be able to claim that it is a ‘clean’ party as stated in its last election motto,” he said in an interview.
“PAS’ move to field the same candidate for the by-election would bite back as it seems like the party is undermining voters.
“The court has issued the verdict saying that there were elements of corruption in the last general election, and instead of fielding a fresh and clean candidate, they fielded Ahmad Amzad again,” Azan said at Pakatan’s command centre here yesterday.
However, the former Indera Mahkota MP and Bandar assemblyman in Terengganu will not leverage totally on the corruption issue to propel himself in the polls. He has bigger aspirations for the people of Terengganu.
“I hope the rakyat can realise that there is no Terengganu representation in the unity government and this would complicate so many things when it comes to policy-making at the federal level.
“It would affect the rakyat. I hope that this second chance would allow voters to opt for Pakatan, which is a part of the unity government, for their own sake,” he added.
