GE15: PKR's Manolan Mohamad disappointed over rejected Kemayan nomination

KUANTAN: PKR's Manolan Mohamad has expressed his sadness at his failure to be nominated for the Kemayan state seat in Pahang.

The PKR Orang Asli bureau chairman claimed that he gave his nomination papers for checking to Election Commission (EC) officials on Friday (Nov 4), a day before nominations on Saturday (Nov 5).

"Today is the saddest day that is hard to describe. The nomination form of the Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Kemayan state seat has been rejected by the EC.

"This is even though I handed in the nomination form to be checked by EC officials on Friday (Nov 4), before nomination day.

"To friends and supporters of Pakatan in Bera, especially in Kemayan, I know you are sad.

"But we have a bigger agenda – we must make sure that Abas Awang, the Pakatan candidate for the Bera parliamentary seat, wins big and that we capture the seat," Manolan posted on Facebook.

With the rejection of Manolan's nomination, the Kemayan state seat is the only one in Pahang that sees a straight fight between two candidates, in this case Barisan Nasional's Khaizulnizam Mohamad Zuldin and Perikatan Nasional's Safuan Husin.

Pahang EC director Datuk Zamree Hamli had said that Manolan's residential address was in Shah Alam, but there is a requirement that to run for a state assembly seat, candidates must reside in the state where they are contesting.

Manolan, 46, did not respond to a request for comments.

In the GE14, Manolan ran for the Kemayan state seat in a three-cornered match but lost to Barisan's Datuk Mohd Fadil Osman by 4,618 votes.

Manolan served as a senator in the Dewan Negara from 2018 to 2021.

One other candidate had his papers rejected for Pahang, where Pejuang's Datuk Mohammad Radhi Abdul Razak was hoping to run for the Pulau Manis state seat.

It was learnt that Mohammad Radhi's proposer and seconder were not locals.

The Pulau Manis state seat will see a three-cornered fight between Barisan's Datuk Khairuddin Mahmud, Perikatan Nasional's Mohammad Rafiq Khan Ahmad Khan and Pakatan Harapan's Mohd Khairil Khalid.