Johor Pas to contest 57 seats in GE14
JOHOR BARU: Johor Pas will contest 17 parliamentary and 40 state seats in the 14th General Election.
Newly-appointed Johor Pas commissioner Abdullah Hussin said the number of seats was the most Pas had ever contested in the state, and it was planning to field a mix of veterans and new faces in the state.
Although Abdullah did not specify which parliamentary and state seats it was targeting, the party will defend its state seats of Sungai Abong, Maharani and Puteri Wangsa, which it won in the last general election.
He said Johor Pas would defend the Parit Yaani state seat, now held by its splinter group, Parti Amanah Negara, as he felt that “the seat was won on a Pas ticket the last time around” and should be defended by Pas.
“Even if Pas is going at it alone, it does not mean we will contest all of the parliamentary and state seats in Johor because we have our own considerations to make,” said Abdullah, referring to severed ties between Pas and members of Pakatan Harapan.
“In terms of candidates, we will field younger and veteran candidates comprising ulama, professionals and community activists,” he said after a hand-over of duties ceremony at the state Pas headquarters here yesterday.
Present were deputy state Pas commissioner Roslan Nikmat and Pas assistant secretary-general Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil.
Abdullah, who is Puteri Wangsa assemblyman, said he was confident that the party would defend the seats it won the last time around, and that it wanted to add more victories and have at least eight seats in Johor
“We will abide by plans outlined by the party’s central committee.
“Because we are doing this alone, the approach in Johor will be to double our efforts to win over the people,” he said.
In the last general election in 2013, Johor Pas contested eight parliamentary seats and 31 state seats.
There are 56 state and 26 parliamentary seats in the state.