GE15: Barisan to announce candidates for remaining Perak state seats soon, says Saarani

IPOH: The candidates for the four state seats in Perak will be announced soon, says Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.

The Perak Mentri Besar said MIC was yet to present the names of the candidates to him.

"I have been told that MIC is having a meeting, and once they give me the names, I will make the announcement.

"Definitely the flag of Barisan Nasional will fly there," he told a press conference after the announcement of the candidates for Barisan at a hotel here on Tuesday (Nov 1).

There are 59 state seats and 24 parliamentary seats in Perak.

Sungkai, Buntong, Jelapang and Aulong state seats were not announced.

During GE14, Sungkai, Buntong and Jelapang, candidates from MIC were fielded, while for Aulong, the candidate was from Gerakan.

All four seats, DAP had won during GE14.

On the reason for the eleventh hour change of the Umno candidate for the parliamentary seat in Larut, Saarani said he was not aware of the reason, but the popular Islamic preacher and ustaz pulled out at 1am on Wednesday (Nov 2) morning.

The replacement was a young 37-year-old petroleum engineer Mohd Shafiq Fhadly Mahmud.

"He is a young candidate, and I am confident that he will be able to capture back the seat," he said, adding that Barisan was all out to win the three state seats as well.

The incumbent Larut MP is Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin.

In GE14, Hamzah won the Larut seat on a Barisan’s ticket in a three-cornered fight that also involved PAS and PKR. He then left Umno to become an independent MP before joining Bersatu.

On several incumbents for both the parliamentary and state seats dropped, he said that involved several factors.

"For example, in Pasir Salak it was the party’s decision not to field Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, in Padang Renggas Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz does not want to contest, and for Kuala Kangsar Datin Mastura Mohd Yazid’s name was not nominated," he said.