Anwar welcomes BN decision not to contest PD by-election

0

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday welcomed the decision of the Barisan Nasional (BN) not to contest the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election in which he is standing as the PKR candidate.

Nevertheless, he said, he still had to contend with other candidates, including independent candidates, in the by-election, the nomination for which is on Saturday and polling, on Oct 13.

“I welcome those who are not contesting. I welcome a contest, but I’m happier if there’s no contest.

If UMNO (BN) is not contesting, of course I still have to face the independent candidates,” he said to reporters after delivering a talk on the ‘Syarahan Negarawan 2018’ lecture programme here.

Umno president and BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced on Monday that the BN was boycotting the by-election because it felt that the seat was vacated to fulfill the political aspirations of an individual.

Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah of PKR had resigned as the Port Dickson MP to allow Anwar to contest the seat to become an MP.

When informed that there were people who questioned his contesting the seat, Anwar said they were entitled to voice their opinions and criticism against him.

He said one of the issues raised was that he leaned towards the Malays and Islam but these people were entitled to voice their views and criticism.

Asked about the proposal by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) to conduct the PKR elections if needed, Anwar said it was not easy as the PKR election process was ongoing.

He said that as an election monitoring body, Bersih was seen to be effective in discharging its duty but it was difficult for it to conduct the PKR elections which had to adhere to the period stipulated by the Registrar of Societies.

He also reiterated his warning to candidates of the PKR elections, especially those holding posts in the government, not to offer projects to party members to garner votes. — Bernama