KOTA KINABALU, Oct 28 — PKR will back Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate Karmaine Sardini for the Tanjung Piai by-election on November 16, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has vowed today.

Congratulating the candidate who is from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), the PKR president said that his party will be supporting Karmaine, 66, during campaigning.

"We have instructed all our election machinery to focus on this and to increase campaigning activity and boost the PH’s candidate’s chances in this by-election,” he said after opening the Sabah PKR Convention in Penampang.

The Election Commission has fixed November 16 as polling day for the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat which fell vacant following the death of incumbent Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik on September 21.

Dr Md Farid who was also a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, died of heart complications.

Johor PH chief Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced Karmaine’s candidacy in Pontian today.

Karmaine, 66, was a former teacher at SMK Teluk Kerang in Tanjung Piai before continuing his studies in architecture.

He later served as an architect in the Kuala Lumpur City Hall from 1980 to 2000.