GEORGE TOWN, April 24 — Barisan Nasional’s Permatang Pauh candidate Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said believes there will be a “minor tsunami” in the constituency which has been a PKR stronghold since 1999.
The Umno Permatang Pauh division chief said the incumbent MP, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was hardly in the constituency in all her years as an elected representative there.
He said it is due to this that the constituents of Permatang Pauh were deprived of development for so many years.
“I am confident that the people there want a representative who will always be there for them and always think of how to improve their standard of living,” he said in a brief press conference after he was named as the parliamentary seat candidate today.
He said he is a local Permatang Pauh boy and he had served the people there for many years as the BN Permatang Pauh coordinator.
“Previously, this place may be known as a PKR stronghold but not anymore, I think this time we have a 50-50 chance of winning this seat,” he said.
“I can sense that there will be a minor tsunami in Permatang Pauh in BN’s favour this time around,” he said.
Mohd Zaidi will be contesting in a three-cornered fight for the seat against Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR) and Afnan Hamimi Talib Azamudden (PAS).
He said he respects Nurul Izzah as a seasoned politician but he believed that the people will opt for someone who is permanently based there.
“It is now a time for change in Permatang Pauh, I can feel it,” he said.
The Permatang Pauh seat was held under BN by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from 1982 until he was jailed in 1999.
His wife, Dr Wan Azizah, then held the seat under PKR from 1999 before giving way to Anwar in 2008.
Anwar was the Permatang Pauh MP from 2008 until he was jailed in 2015 and Dr Wan Azizah again won the seat in the by-election.
This time, Dr Wan Azizah has chosen not to defend the seat, allowing incumbent Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah defend the seat instead.
