SEBERANG PERAI, April 28 — The Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat and its three state seats will see a stiff three-way contest involving Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH) and PAS.
Returning officer Mohd Ali Sebran announced that PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar will be defending her seat against BN Permatang Pauh division chief Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said and Penang PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden.
Nurul Izzah is the daughter of incumbent Permatang Pauh MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and former MP Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“We received the nominations from Afnan Hamimi at 9.06am, Zaidi Mohd Said at 9.06am and Nurul Izzah Anwar at 9.11am,” Mohd Ali said when announcing the candidates for the parliamentary seat.
He made the announcement on a stage in front of the Institut Kemahiran Tinggi Belia Negara in Bukit Mertajam as supporters from all three parties cheered from both sides of the road about 50m away.
The Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat has been under PKR control since Election 1999. Though Anwar was its MP since 1982, he was then with the BN until his jailing in April 1999 for sodomy.
Meanwhile, the three state seats under the Permatang Pauh federal seat, namely Seberang Jaya, Permatang Pasir and Penanti, will also see three-cornered fights involving the PH component party, BN and PAS.
Incumbent Seberang Jaya MP Dr Afif Bahardin from PKR will be defending his seat against BN’s Abu Bakar Sidekh Zainul Abidin and PAS’ Ahmad Rafaei Rashid.
The Permatang Pasir state seat, which is a PAS stronghold, will see the incumbent Muhammad Fauzi Yusoff, who is also Penang PAS state commissioner, contesting against BN’s Anuar Faisal Yahaya and Faiz Fadzil, the PH candidate.
Like all other PH candidates nationwide, Faiz from Parti Amanah Negara will be contesting under PKR’s logo.
Finally, in Penanti, incumbent assemblyman Norlela Ariffin from PKR will be defending her seat against BN’s Suhaimi Sabudin and PAS’ Fawwaz Mohamad Jan.
The Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency has a total 81,789 registered voters with a racial composition of 72 per cent Malays, 22 per cent ethnic Chinese and 6 per cent ethnic Indians.
