PAGOH: A father-son team from PAS, Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed (pic) and Ahmad Nawfal Mahfodz, is set to lock horns with Parti Pribumi Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in the polls.
Dr Mahfodz, who is PAS Syura Council chief, confirmed that his son would take on Muhyiddin for the Pagoh parliament seat while he himself will contest against the former Umno deputy president for the Gambir state seat.
Muhyiddin will be defending his Pagoh parliamentary seat and also contesting in the Gambir state seat in GE14.
"My son was chosen as the party's candidate for Pagoh. It will be his first time contesting in the polls," Dr Mahfodz, 73, told The Star on Friday (April 20).
Dr Mahfodz said that PAS has influence in Pagoh as the party had fielded candidates in previous general elections to unseat Muhyiddin, although the efforts were unsuccessful.
"The experience we have in Pagoh will be of help to my son," he added.
Ahmad Nawfal, 34, who is Johor PAS Youth deputy chief, is a Business Management graduate from UiTM.
Muhyiddin has held the predominantly Malay majority seat of Pagoh for almost 40 years, between 1978 to 1986 and from 1995 till now.
In the 2004 elections, Muhyiddin defeated PAS candidate Mohamad Anang by a whopping 18,747 votes.
His majority in 2008 was reduced to 12,581 votes, when he defeated Mohd Rozali Jamil Al'Hafiz of PAS.
In the 2013 elections, Muhyiddin successfully defended his seat when he defeated Mohd Rozali again, this time by a majority of 12,842.
As for Gambir, Dr Mahfodz said he was confident of doing well in the seat.
"In the last polls, I lost by a very slim margin. This time round, I am more confident despite the likelihood of a multi-cornered fight for the seat," he said.
Dr Mahfodz said locals in Gambir are familiar with him as he has been working on the ground since his last defeat in 2013.
In 2013, Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk M. Asojan won the seat by a slim majority of 310 votes, when he obtained 8,705 votes against Dr Mahfodz's 8,395 votes.
Independents Mohd Zan Abu and Yunus Mustakim managed to get 837 and 261 votes respectively.
Asojan, who is Johor MIC chief, is tipped to defend the Gambir seat.
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