SHAH ALAM, July 10 — Selangor Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has identified three potential candidates to contest for the Sungai Kandis State Assembly (DUN) seat in Selangor in a by-election on August 4.

Selangor PKR chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said however, the names would be handed over to the central leadership before being finalised.

“We have finalised three names, we will discuss this in the party political bureau meeting this evening.

“There are many qualified candidates, we have to respect the selection process, we listen to the words of the grassroots, branches and then let the central leadership decide and only after that we will announce,” he told reporters after attending the open house of Mentri Besar Incorporated (MBI) at the Selangor mentri besar’s official residence here, today.

Also present other than Azmin, who is also economic affairs minister, was Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari and Ijok state assemblyman Idris Ahmad.

Asked on the selection criteria for the three candidates, Mohamed Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, declined to elaborate but did not dismiss a female candidate for the seat.

“We will surely field a ‘clean’ candidate who is acceptable by the people, for a woman candidate… there is certainly no gender discrimination.

“And with the credibility brought by Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei before, we believe PKR can maintain victory in the seat,” he added.

Previously, three names were mentioned to fill the vacancy, Kota Anggerik former State Assemblyman Yaakob Sapari and two young candidates of the party, Mohd Radzlan Jalaluddin and Mikael Eskandar.

Meanwhile, Amirudin said the Selangor PKR machinery was ready to face the by-election and was prepared to face any possibility of PAS and Barisan Nasional (BN) fielding their candidates.

“Regardless, we are ready... a one-to-one or three-cornered clash ...”

The Sungai Kandis state seat is vacant following the death of incumbent Mat Shuhaimi from PKR from lymphoma cancer on July 2. In the 14th General Election on May 9, Shuhaimi defended the seat (formerly Sri Muda) for the third consecutive term with a majority of 12,480 votes in a four-cornered contest. — Bernama