Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin has challenged UMNO wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to contest in the Permatang Pauh by-election, to be held on May 7.

Zuraida challenged Shahrizat to contest there and prove her allegations that Permatang Pauh did not see much development under its previous MPs from PKR.

“UMNO knows well that Permatang Pauh voters would throw their full support behind PKR and this has been proven before,” she said when contacted today.

“If Shahrizat talks again, I challenge her to become a candidate and contest, since she is also from Penang,” she said.

Shahrizat had said that the Permatang Pauh constituency is not a private company and based on the feedback of Wanita UMNO, the people of Permatang Pauh are longing for development.

She said the people of the constituency were also tired of the unchanged political scenario, with different candidates from the same family.

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail won the Permatang Pauh seat in 2004 and 2008 with a majority of 590 and 13,398 votes, defeating the Barisan Nasional candidate.

In the 13th general election, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim defeated BN candidate Mazlan Ismail with a 11,721 majority.

READ: Anwar sent to Sungai Buloh prison

The seat fell vacant following Anwar's prison sentence for sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Azlan Bukhari.