Four new faces contesting for PKR in Kedah

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has listed four new faces and an incumbent to defend its five parliamentary seats in Kedah in the 13th general election (GE13).

They included party secretary-general, Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who will stand in Kulim/Bandar Baharu. Saifuddin is the incumbent for the Machang parliamentary seat in Kelantan.

Speaking at a ceramah in Bandar Laguna Merbok, near here last night, PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also announced that party vice-president N. Surendran was chosen as the candidate for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat.

The other two new faces are the Wanita head of the Sungai Petani division, Nor Azrina Surip @ Nurin Aina Abdullah (Merbok parliamentary constituency) and PKR Kuala Kedah division Dr Azman Ismail (Kuala Kedah), while Datuk Johari Abdul will defend his Sungai Petani parliamentary seat.

In the 2008 general election, PKR won five of the seven parliamentary seats it contested. The party lost in Alor Setar and Langkawi.

In the Merbok parliamentary constituency, PKR candidate Datuk Rashid Din defeated Barisan Nasional's Datuk Tajul Urus Mat Zain with a majority of 3,098 votes.

The Kulim/Bandar Baharu and Padang Serai parliamentary seats were won by Datuk Zulkifli Noordin and N. Gobalakrishnan respectively but both later left the party to become Independent Members of Parliament.

For the Sungai Petani parliamentary seat, Johari defeated former Information Minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin while the Kuala Kedah parliamentary seat was won by Ahmad Kasim.

Anwar recently announced that the PKR Legal Bureau head, Gooi Hsiao Leung, would be its candidate for the Alor Setar parliamentary seat but this was protested by the Kedah DAP which also wanted to contest the seat.