Eight incumbent PAS lawmakers to contest their seats in Kelantan

KOTA BARU: Eight incumbent PAS MPs are set to contest their seats in Kelantan during the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15).

This includes Kota Baru incumbent Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (Pengkalan Chepa), Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (Kubang Kerian), Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (Tanah Merah) and Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (Rantau Panjang).

State Perikatan chairman and Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob announced the coalition’s candidates at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium’s Dataran Warisan, last night. ((Nov 2))

Meanwhile Bersatu youth chief Wan Ahmad Fahysal Wan Ahmad Kamal will be facing State Umno liaison committee chairman Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub in Machang.

It was also announced that Mejar-Jeneral (Rtd) Datuk Khlir Mohd Nor would be contesting the Ketereh seat for Bersatu.

Earlier there was speculation that Perikatan had wanted to offer a seat to Ketereh incumbent MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa who was dropped by Umno.

Khlir will face Ketereh Umno Puteri chief Marzuani Ardila Ariffin.

Meanwhile Jeli incumbent Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed will make way for his political secretary Zahari Kechik, as the Perikatan candidate. Mustapa had decided to sit out of the general election due to health issues.

Ahmad Yakob said all candidates had been vetted including with the PAS Syura Ulama Council, along with the Bersatu and PAS leaders.

Kelantan Perikatan deputy president Datuk Kamarudin Md Nor said it only took 10 minutes for both Bersatu and PAS to discuss seat allocations in the state.

The party he said would pay close attention to the Gua Musang, Ketereh and Machang seats which are Barisan strongholds.

Meanwhile PAS vice president Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said the candidates would strive to bring victory to the party.

He said even though Perikatan was made of a few parties - PAS, Bersatu and Gerakan, they all shared the same goals.

“We aim to retain Kelantan, win seats that we won before, snatched those that we lost and win in style,” he said.