SUNGAI BESAR, June 5 ― Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election Budiman Mohd Zohdi is confident the “local man” factor provides him the advantage to better understand the needs and pulse of the people in the constituency.
This, he said, was because he had been meeting them for the past three years as the Sungai Panjang Assemblyman.
He regarded his nomination for the Sungai Besar parliamentary seat as an expansion of his service as an elected representative.
On his strategy to win the votes of the Chinese community, especially in Sekinchan, Budiman, 44, said he believed the people there knew that he would be able to serve them better.
“As a local there, I know the place and certainly am able to understand their problems,” he added.
“What is important is for us to focus on the strength we have to convince the people and win the parliamentary seat,” he said when met by reporters after nomination for the Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election here today.
The Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election will witness a three-cornered fight between Budiman, PAS candidate Dr Abdul Rani Osman and Azhar Abdul Shukur, from Parti Amanah negara (Amanah), which is representing Pakatan Harapan.
The by-election is called following the death of its incumbent, Tan Sri Noriah Kasnon, in a helicopter crash in Sebuyau, Sarawak, last May 5.
Noriah won the seat in the last general election, defeating PAS' Mohamed Salleh M. Hussin with a majority of 399 votes.
Sungai Besar has 42,655 registered voters, comprising 42,365 ordinary voters, 286 early voters and four absentee voters who are abroad.
The Election Commission has fixed June 18 for polling, with June 14 for the early voters. ― Bernama
