Pas confident of wrestling Besut from BN

KUALA TERENGGANU: Pas is confident of wresting the Besut parliamentary seat from Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 15th General Election (GE15), thereby strengthening the party's presence at the state level, said state PAS commissioner Datuk Husain Awang.

Therefore, he said, a decision has been reached that a candidate from Pas will contest the Besut parliamentary seat and the matter has also been agreed upon by Bersatu.

"To strengthen the party at the state level we need to field (candidate from) Pas in Besut. There is a chance for Pas to win... the seat is ready to be contested by Pas ," he told reporters after officiating the GE15 headquarters and the launch of Kuala Terengganu parliamentary election machinery in Kuala Ibai, last night.

In GE14, the Besut parliamentary seat was won by the BN candidate Tan Sri Idris Jusoh who recently announced that he would not be contesting the GE15.

Hussain added that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) seat distribution process for all parliamentary seats in Terengganu is now considered complete but does not rule out the possibility of new faces will be fielded this time.

Following that, now only the Hulu Terengganu parliamentary seat will be contested by Bersatu with its incumbent Datuk Rosol Wahid will defend the seat that he won on the BN ticket in GE14 with a majority of 2,868 votes, defeating Pas candidate, Muhyiddin Abdul Rashid and Bersatu candidate, Datuk Razali Idris.

Meanwhile, regarding the Kuala Nerus parliamentary seat, he said Pas does not view it as a threat even though former Pas Central Committee member Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali will contest as an independent candidate to defend the seat he won in GE14.

-- BERNAMA