JOHOR BARU, Feb 14 — PKR publicly named its five candidates for the coming Johor election today, with its state women chief Napsiah Khamis Maharan running for Kempas.
The 42-year-old activist was a surprise candidate for Kempas as previously PKR signalled it intended to field her in Puteri Wangsa, which was ceded to Parti Amanah Negara, its Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition partner last week and has since been ceded to Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), which is making its electoral debut in the March 12 vote.
Napsiah, who is a central executive council member of PKR’s women’s wing, had sought to defend Puteri Wangsa, which had been her state constituency before the state assembly was dissolved.
The announcement for the southern zone was made by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Thistle Hotel here.
Tebrau PKR secretary Chiong Sen Sern will be running for Bukit Batu which was won by Johor PKR deputy chief Jimmy Puah Wee Tse in Election 2018.
Johor PKR vice-chief S. Gopalakrishnan will be defending his Tiram state seat.
The other PKR candidates are Dr Zamil Najwah Arbain and Fakhruddin Moslim for Larkin and Pasir Raja respectively.
Anwar is expected to announce PKR’s remaining 15 candidates at Rengit and Batu Pahat later today, covering Johor’s central as well as northern zones.
PKR is expected to contest in all 20 state seats in the Johor state election after their talks over three seats with Muda was deadlocked.
The Opposition PH coalition plans to contest all 56 seats in the upcoming Johor state election.
The Election Commission has set March 12 as polling day with early voting on March 8. Nomination day is set for February 26.
