SHAH ALAM, July 21 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) had chosen a candidate who is indeed eligible to represent Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the Sungai Kandis State Assembly constituency by-election (PRK) on Aug 4.

The PKR president said this was because Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni was a responsible person who was also accepted as a leader by the people in the constituency.

"Praise be to allah, we choose the right candidate and I hope the people can also make the right choice by voting this party candidate,” she told reporters after attending to support Mohd Zawawi during the nomination process here today.

In the three-cornered contest, Mohd Zawawi, principal of Maahad Tahfiz Al Fateh Jalan Kebun, was opposed by Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Lokman Noor Adam and government retiree K. Murthy as an Independent candidate.

Meanwhile, Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari was confident that PKR would retain Sungai Kandis constituency with a bigger majority following the support of the people who were seen to be in favour of the party.

"I see that the people’s sentiments (Selangor) are more towards our party and we are positive about this acceptance. This is our first PRK as a government in Malaysia and I am sure we can maintain victory in the seat,” he said.

The Sungai Kandis’s PRK director, however, reminded the party machinery not to be complacent with the victories gained at the 14th General Election (GE14).

The Sungai Kandis state seat was held following the death of the incumbent, Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei from lymphoma cancer on July 2.

In GE14 Mat Shuhaimi defended Sungai Kandis (formerly Sri Muda) seat for the third term in a row with a majority of 12,480 votes beating BN candidate Datuk Kamaruzzaman Johari, PAS candidate Mohd Yusof Abdullah and Parti Rakyat Malaysia candidate Hanafiah Husin. — Bernama