PETALING JAYA, Nov 1 — PKR announced today its final parliamentary candidate for the peninsula as literary activist Hasni Abas who will contest in Sembrong.
Elections director Rafizi Ramli said Hasni, the party’s Parit Sulong division chief, could make an impact in the constituency, which is a stronghold of Umno leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
“Hasni has to shoulder a big responsibility to defeat Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein there,” he told a press conference at PKR headquarters today.
Rafizi added that Sembrong is currently a marginal seat as during the 2018 general election, the incumbent’s majority was reduced from more than 20,000 in 2008 to just over 6,000.
Hasni — who is a literature and political science graduate from Universiti Sains Malaysia — said he has worked in Johor for the past four years after retiring from his job but continues to maintain a diverse activism network.
“As a political science student, many networks from NGOs helped us in Sembrong and other places,” he said.
With the announcement, PKR will now contest 101 parliamentary seats across the country in the coming general election (GE15).
On October 28, 72 candidates in the peninsula were announced.
Another 10 candidates for seats in Sabah were announced yesterday in Kota Kinabalu by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The remaining 16 seats to be contested in Sarawak will be announced by him today in Miri.
Of the 75 seats that will be contested in the peninsula, three seats were not announced on October 28 due to ongoing seat negotiations at the time. They were the constituencies of Sembrong (Johor), Sungai Siput (Perak) and Tapah (Perak).
Anwar has announced party vice-president K. Saraswathy as the candidate for Tapah, while S. Kesavan will defend the seat he won in Sungai Siput in 2018.
