PETALING JAYA: Perikatan Nasional’s candidate for Arau has been left vacant to make way for Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim to represent the coalition in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Perlis Perikatan chairman Mohd Shukri Ramli said the name of the candidate for the Arau parliamentary seat was vacated at the last minute, as negotiations at the federal level with Shahidan had not been finalised yet, reported Sinar Harian.
"Yes, it is true that there were negotiations with him (Shahidan). It all started when we met by chance at the airport last Monday.
"We have had a good relationship all this time and this matter (the offer to be a Perikatan candidate) came about after there were rumours that he might not be nominated.
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"At the state level, we don't know the results yet because discussions are still going on at the headquarters. I am still waiting for a decision from the head office," he said when contacted by Sinar Harian here on Wednesday (Nov 2).
Mohd Shukri, who is also the Perlis PAS commissioner, said his party had previously sent the names of candidates to be selected at the federal level to compete in the Arau parliamentary seat in GE15.
"This Arau parliamentary seat belongs to PAS. Before this, we have sent a list of names suitable to compete in the Arau parliamentary seat.
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"Based on the current situation, we will give way to Shahidan because he is a candidate who can win. The most important thing for us is to win as many seats in GE15," he said.
Mohd Shukri added that he believed that PAS supporters at the grassroots level would approve of this decision because they are loyal members of the party.
On Tuesday (Nov 1), Shahidan confirmed that he still wanted to run for the Arau parliamentary seat despite having to use another party's ticket after he was dropped as a Barisan candidate and replaced by Datuk Rozabil Abdul Rahman.
