Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Chini state by-election, Mohd Sharim Md Zain has numerous advantages to help the local community if elected, said UMNO secretary-general, Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.

He said this is because Mohd Sharim, 41, compared to the two other independent candidates, has three factors behind him that could make him the voters' candidate of choice for the Chini constituency.

He said, the first is that the 41-year-old is the Kuantan Felda Youth Council chairman, representing the youths, and acts a bridge to the older generation.

"Mohd Sharim represents the younger generation which could be the bridge to the generation gap with the older generation. This means at the age of 41, he can be the bridge between the 21 to 40 years group and those 40 to 70 years,” he told reporters while accompanying Mohd Sharim in his walkabout session at Bandar Dara near here today.

The second factor, he said, was because Mohd Sharim represented the Felda settlers (second generation) who made up the majority of voters in the Chini constituency.

"He represents the new Felda generation. We held (Chini constituency) for three terms under the late Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Harun who was also a Felda settler.

"As for the third factor, Mohd Sharim has the support of two governments namely the (Pahang) state and Federal governments to assist him in developing Chini. While the two independent candidates have no government to support them and would not be able to fulfill the people's demands,” Ahmad said.

UMNO-led BN is in power in Pahang while BN is allied with the parties that make up the Perikatan Nasional government at the federal level.

The Chini state by-election on July 4 is a three-cornered fight among Mohd Sharim and two independent candidates, namely Tengku Datuk Zainul Hisham Tengku Hussin and Mohd Shukri Mohd Ramli.

The election was necessitated by the death of the incumbent, Abu Bakar, 60, on May 6 due to a heart attack. Abu Bakar was first elected the Chini state assemblyman in the 11th general election in 2004.

In the 14th general election, Abu Bakar retained the seat with a 4,622-vote majority when he garnered 10,027 votes to beat Mohd Fadhil of PAS, who obtained 5,405 votes, and Mohamad Razali Ithnain from PKR who received only 1,065 votes. - BERNAMA