Full list of PKR candidates is out

Reports by NELSON BENJAMIN, VENESA DEVI and REMAR NORDIN

JOHOR BARU: PKR has officially announced all of its 20 candidates for the Johor election, closing the door on any further seat negotiation with the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda).

Johor PKR chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said discussions with Muda had been final.

“It is time to move on and focus on the work. We went through a series of discussions (with Muda) and offered them some seats, but they had their demands.

“We gave them time to reconsider but when we heard remarks by (Muda president) Syed Saddiq (Syed Abdul Rahman), we considered that the end of it.

“Yes, they are not part of Pakatan Harapan but we needed to have a gentleman’s understanding, so we announced our candidates bit by bit.“There was actually still time for them to reach out to us throughout the announcement of our candidates,” he added.

Syed Ibrahim was speaking to the press after the announcement of the seven candidates for the state’s east and central regions.

On Friday, Syed Saddiq said Muda might be contesting against PKR if seat negotiations between the two parties fail.

He said Muda had made a continuous effort to avoid any seat clashes with Opposition parties as its main focus was to bring about positive change in Johor.

The youth-led party’s seat talks with two other Pakatan parties, Parti Amanah Negara and DAP, had concluded earlier, with the parties giving Muda six seats to contest, thus avoiding any clashes.

The Muda leadership is scheduled to hold a special meeting this weekend to discuss the way forward after talks with PKR collapsed.

“If the clash of seats between Muda and PKR can’t be avoided, Muda will leave the decision to the people of Johor,” Syed Saddiq had said.Earlier yesterday, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the final seven candidates for the Johor polls.

They are Zulinah A. Johari (Tenggaroh), Mohd Zaiful Bakri (Kukup), Haryati Abu Nasir (Semarang), Rosman Tahir (Tanjung Surat), Omar Mokhtar A. Manap (Johor Lama), Haniff @ Ghazali Hosman (Benut) and Khairuddin A. Rahim (Renggit), the Senggarang incumbent previously from Amanah.PKR had earlier announced the other 13 candidates: C. Subramani (Buloh Kasap), Yoong Thau (Pemanis), Na’im Jusri (Gambir), Md Ysahrudin Kusni (Bukit Naning), Azmi Masrani (Sri Medan), Abdullah Sahid (Sungai Balang), Mohd Khuzzan Abu Bakar (Semerah), Dr Maszlee Malik (Layang-layang), Napsiah Khamis (Kempas), Chiong Sen Sern (Bukit Batu), S. Gopalakrishnan (Tiram), Dr Zamil Najwah Arbain (Larkin) and Fakhruddin Moslim (Pasir Raja).