Zahid: State BN chiefs will announce GE14 candidates

BAGAN DATUK: Candidates contesting for the parliamentary and state seats in the 14th General Election will be announced by the respective Barisan Nasional state chairmen, says the coalition’s deputy chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said as Barisan chairman, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had empowered all state Barisan chairmen to announce candidates for the parliamentary and state seats.

“We (the Barisan leadership) have handed it over to the state Barisan chiefs to decide on a suitable date to announce the candidates.

“So, we leave it to them. There is no need for any hint from any party.

“The decision has been made that all the candidates for the parliamentary and state seats from the states are announced by the state Barisan chairman,” he told reporters after visiting the Parit 4 district voting centre here yesterday.

He said this when commenting on talk over the past few days that the Prime Minister would hand over the nomination credentials to Barisan candidates at the Putra World Trade Centre in stages today, tomorrow or Sunday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid denied the allegations and said: “Rumours are nor mal, do not write news based on rumours. I am talking as the Barisan deputy chairman, this is not a rumour, it’s true.”

On April 15, Umno secretarygeneral Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Barisan is expected to announce the list of candidates for GE14 within seven or 10 days before nominations on April 28.

The Election Commission has set the polling day for GE14 on May 9, the nomination date on April 28, while the date for the early polling is May 5.

On another matter, Dr Ahmad Zahid said any thinlyveiled statement of threat issued by any Barisan component party leader is not welcome as it may jeopardise party harmony.

As component party leaders, they must respect the Barisan charter as the top priority over other priorities, he added.

He said the problem stirred up by one of the 13 Barisan component parties should be resolved immediately, especially if the leader intended to contest in a seat already decided by another component party.

“Of course, the Barisan leadership will take into account the agreement on the seats that have been decided, whether they are on loan temporarily or swapped with another seat.

“However, if the leader concerned still wants to be insistent, I am certain he will eventually accept the reality that unity in Barisan is something that must be given priority,” he said.

To a question on the action of myPPP president Tan Sri M. Kayveas, who threatened to quit Barisan because he was unhappy that MIC was being allocated Cameron Highlands, the Deputy Prime Minister said the matter would be resolved by Najib.

The action by Kayveas, he added, was probably aimed at safeguarding the feelings of the party members under his leadership. — Bernama