ALOR SETAR : Kedah Perikatan Nasional has unveiled its candidates contesting parliamentary seats during the 15th General Election (GE15).
In unveiling the candidates Perikatan Nasional deputy chairman Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang said the coalition will contest all 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah.
The PAS president introduced the Perikatan candidates to coalition members and supporters at Kompleks PAS Kedah on Wednesday (Nov 2) night.
Abdul Hadi said the coalition will feature nine candidates from PAS and six from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
Leading the candidates is Bersatu chairman Datuk Suhaimi Abdullah who will contest in Langkawi.
The 64-year-old Suhaimi is likely to face former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who will be competing under a Pejuang-GTA ticket in a four-corner fight.
The other two candidates are Datuk Armishah Siraj from Umno and Zabidi Yahya from Pakatan Harapan.
In Jerlun, Perikatan will field Dr Abd Ghani Ahmad, who lost to then-Pakatan Harapan candidate Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir in the 14th General Election.
Bersatu's Guar Chempedak assemblyman Datuk Dr Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail was picked by the Perikatan leadership to contest in Kubang Pasu.
Ku Abdul Rahman left Umno in December 2018 to join Bersatu and is the current state industry and investment, energy, higher education committee chairman.
Senior state executive councillors Dr Robert Ling Kui Ee and Datuk Azman Nasrudin will contest in Sungai Petani and Padang Serai respectively.
The duo were responsible for the fall of the Kedah Pakatan state government after they quit PKR in May 2020.
Mohd Nazri Abu Hassan and Roslan Hashim from Bersatu will contest in Merbuk and Kulim-Bandar Baharu while former Penang PAS youth chief 41-year-old Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamuddin will contest the Alor Setar parliamentary seat.
Afnan is no stranger to general elections having contested Kepala Batas in the 13th General Election and Permatang Pauh in GE14.
The Kedah mentri besar political secretary is likely to face Barisan Nasional's Tan Chee Heong, Pakatan's Simon Ooi, Warisan's Fadzil Hanafi, Pejuang's Mohamad Nuhairi Rahmat and an independent candidate in a six-corner fight.
Aside from this, three incumbent MPs - Pendang's Datuk Awang Hashim, Sik's Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman and Jerai's Sabri Azit will defend their respective seats in GE15.
Kedah PAS commissioner Senator Datuk Ahmad Yahya will contest as a parliamentary candidate for the first time at Pokok Sena to square off against former PAS member and four term MP Datuk Mahfuz Omar.
In the last general election Ahmad lost the Alor Mengkudu state seat to Amanah's Datuk Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi by a 1876-vote majority.
Newcomer Kedah PAS youth chief Nurul Amin Hamid will contest in Padang Terap.
Other candidates that were introduced during the event were former Kedah PAS commissioner Ahmad Fakhruddin Fakhrurazi who will contest the Kuala Kedah seat and Hassan Saad in Baling.
Kedah will only have parliamentary elections as the state assembly will not be dissolved.
On Tuesday (Nov 1) Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin annouced that the coalition will contest 169 parliamentary seats nationwide for GE15 and 116 seats for the Perak, Pahang and Perlis state polls.
He had also annouced the coalition's lineup and said that all component parties in Perikatan agreed to contest under a common banner with the exception of Kelantan and Terengganu,where PAS will use its own logo.
