IPOH, April 12 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders need to use their communication strategies well to win the votes of the fence-sitters in the Rantau state by-election this Saturday, said PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli.

He said the strategies would play a very important role to prevent the fence-sitters from falling for the issues raised by the Opposition.

"We have to be able to make everything clear to the voters so that they will not be confused with what we are trying to promote,” the former Pandan MP said at a PH ceramah here last night.

Rafizi said if the government’s aspiration was not explained well to the people, it would give the Opposition the opportunity to manipulate the fence-sitters.

The Rantau by-election sees a four-cornered fight between PH candidate Dr S. Streram, incumbent Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan (Barisan Nasional) and two independent candidates, housewife R. Malarvizhi, and former lecturer Mohd Nor Yassin.

The by-election has been necessitated by the Federal Court dismissal of an appeal filed by Mohamad to set aside the Nov 16 Seremban Election Court decision declaring his unopposed victory in the 14th General Election (GE14) null and void.

In GE14, Mohamad was declared the winner of the seat after Dr Streram was prohibited from entering the nomination centre to submit his nomination papers because he did not have a pass issued by the Election Commission. — Bernama