GE15: Rafizi says not contesting in Johor despite being appointed state PKR chief

JOHOR BARU: Despite being appointed as state PKR chief, Rafizi Ramli has stressed that he would not be contesting any Parliamentary seats in Johor.

Rafizi, who is also party deputy president, said that he has no plans to contest in Johor.

"No, I am not (contesting in Johor). PKR top leadership's decision for me to lead Johor is not for me to contest here but because I have a long record of working with the leadership and party branches in Johor.

"So, it will be easier for us to coordinate our campaign in Johor, which is one of our focus states and I am also the party's election director.

"I have never had the intention to contest in Johor. That is muktamat (final)," he said when met with reporters after a late night meeting with Johor PKR leaders at its headquarters here on Wednesday (Aug 31).

He said this when asked if he will be contesting in Johor following talk of him doing so after his appointment as the state party chief.

Rafizi also said that Pakatan Harapan would begin its discussion on seat allocations starting from Thursday (Sept 1).

"We have discussed seats (in Johor) during the meeting here and the discussion on the Pakatan central leadership will begin on Thursday (Sept 1).

"Among states that we will focus on settling first will be Johor as it is among states that had gone through a state election.

"We have identified the seats that we will be focusing on in Johor, including the number of seats but we cannot reveal that yet," he said.

He said that PKR would be contesting more seats in Johor compared to previous elections.

In GE14, PKR contested eight Parliamentary seats in Johor and won seven of them.

More to come