Wan Azizah, Nurul Izzah will not vacate seats
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will not vacate her Pandan parliamentary seat to pave the way for her husband, newly-minted PKR party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to contest a by-election.
Similarly, his daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, said she would not give up her Permatang Pauh seat for him.
“No, I will not vacate my parliamentary seat, or any other position for a by-election,” Dr Wan Azizah, who is deputy prime minister and women and community development minister, said at the Parliament lobby yesterday.
Asked which parliamentary constituency Anwar might contest, Dr Wan Azizah said: “I am not sure.”
Nurul Izzah, who is PKR vicepresident, said the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat held personal memories for her and she regarded it as her “cinta abadi” (eternal love).
“I am very committed (to Permatang Pauh). I have lots on my agenda there and I will remain in Permatang Pauh till the end of this parliamentary term,” she said at the Parliament lobby.
A news portal had reported that Anwar was planning to contest a by-election within months to return to the Dewan Rakyat.
The move is seen as the first step in the former deputy prime minister’s plan to succeed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister.
The portal had quoted Anwar as saying: “I may speed up the process (of returning to the Dewan Rakyat) because there’s nothing wrong with me being a member of parliament”, after winning PKR’s top post unopposed on Sunday.
However, Anwar said he would not contest Dr Wan Azizah’s Pandan parliamentary seat.
“(Contesting) Pandan would be problematic because Wan Azizah would have to resign as deputy prime minister, leaving a vacuum for PKR.”