GE: Amanah to contest 54 parliamentary seats

It is a 35 per cent increase from the number of seats the party contested in 2018's general election, which was 27.

Amanah deputy president Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said he will contest the Pulai parliamentary seat while the party president Mohamad Sabu will defend the Kota Raja seat.

In the GE14, Mohamad Sabu captured Kota Raja with a majority of 71,142 votes while Salahuddin defeated incumbent Pulai Member of Parliament and former Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed with a 28,924-vote majority.

The party also announced that its vice presidents Datuk Mahfuz Omar and Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa will defend the Pokok Sena and Parit Buntar parliamentary seats respectively.

In addition, Amanah communications director Khalid Abdul Samad was named the candidate for the Titiwangsa parliamentary seat while the party's strategy director Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad was nominated to defend the Kuala Selangor seat.

Four incumbents were dropped as candidates during the announcement at Wisma Amanah Negara here, namely vice president Datuk Hasanuddin (Hulu Langat), Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (Sepang), Datuk Dr Hasan Bahrom (Tampin) and Datuk Mohd Anuar Mohd Tahir (Temerloh).

Raj Muni Aiman Athirah was named as the candidate for Sepang, Mohd Hasbie Muda for Temerloh, Mohd Sany Hamzan (Hulu Langat) and Muhammad Faiz Fadzil (Tampin), while Azli Yusof will contest the Shah Alam parliamentary seat retained by Khalid since 2008.

Khalid said the incumbents were dropped to make way for new faces, describing the move as a transition and change that the party wishes to happen, not a reflection of their performance.

"They (incumbents) have shown good and satisfactory performance and we consider this (move) an opportunity for new faces," he said.

Meanwhile, in the same press conference, Mohamad said nomination documents for all Amanah candidates will be submitted for the approval of Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and to be finalised before nomination day on Nov 5.

Asked about former Amanah members, Nik Omar Nik Abdul Aziz and Datuk Husam Musa who are contesting under PKR, Mohamad said he welcomed the move as both are still under PH.

Nik Omar will contest the Pasir Salak parliamentary seat and Husam was nominated as the candidate for Pasir Mas.