KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — The Negri Sembilan chapter of PKR is preparing for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest a federal seat there even though no announcement has been made on his intended choice.
According to The Star, the state chapter is working on the belief that the incoming president has settled on the Port Dickson federal seat currently held by Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah.
The newspaper reported that the former deputy prime minister had been offered three seats to choose from across the country.
It said Anwar teased the crowd by asking if they would support him in Negri Sembilan, dropping a hint that he was considering Port Dickson.
“We welcome him with open arms. I already have strategies to ensure that we retain the seat wit a handsome majority,” the report quoted Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar and PKR chief Aminuddin Harun as saying.
He was quoted saying that the party’s machinery in the state is ready to be mobilised for Anwar.
“If it is true that he (Anwar) will be standing in Port Dickson, then the people of Negri Sembilan would consider ourselves privileged to have him in our state,” he reportedly said.
In the 14th general election, Danyal won the seat with a 17,710-vote majority, defeating Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk VS Mogan and PAS’ Mahfuz Roslan.
Last Friday, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli reportedly revealed that a seat held by a PKR MP will be vacated this week for Anwar to contest in a by-election and return to Parliament.
On September 1, Anwar confirmed that some MPs had offered to vacate their seats for him.
The Pakatan Harapan leadership council collectively agreed that Anwar will succeed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister.
Anwar has repeatedly said that he does not intend to put pressure on Dr Mahathir to name him as part of his government even if he were to become an MP.
Malay Mail understands that a single seat has already been confirmed, and that Anwar has agreed on it and given specific instructions for the announcement today, to be made by PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
When contacted, Saifuddin refuted reports that it would be either the Sungai Petani or Alor Setar parliamentary seat.
While Saifuddin denied it would be either Sungai Petani or Alor Setar, he declined to comment on the possibility of Port Dickson as the chosen seat.
