No straight fights in Temerloh

TEMERLOH: Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin will face a five-cornered fight for the Temerloh parliamentary seat.

To wrest back the seat for Barisan Nasional (BN), Sharkar will lock horns with Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) secretary-general Anuar Tahir using the PKR logo; Md Jusoh Darus (Pas) and two independent candidates Fakhrudin Abu Hanifah as well as former TV3 journalist Khaidir Ahmad.

In the 13th General Election (GE13), Pas information chief Nasrudin Hassan won the Temerloh parliamentary seat with a 1,070 majority vote.

Nasrudin, however, did not defend the seat and will instead contest the Indera Mahkota seat.

The Temerloh parliamentary constituency has 75,621 voters, comprising 67.07 per cent Malays; 22.52 per cent (Chinese), 8.17 per cent (Indians) and 2.25 per cent (others).

For the Lanchang state seat, incumbent Sharkar will face three candidates — Khaidir, Hasan Omar (Pas) and Abas Awang (PKR).

Kuala Semantan incumbent Syed Hamid Syed Mohamed from the opposition pact using the PKR logo will defend the seat against Datuk Nor Azmi Mat Ludin (BN) and Hassanuddin Salim (Pas).

There will be a four-cornered fight for the Mentakab state seat, comprising BN candidate Datuk Wong Tat Chee, Abirerah Awang Chik (Pas), Datuk Chua Boon Seong (Independent) and Woo Chee Wan (PKR).

Returning officer Datuk Azlan Mohd Yaman confirmed all the candidates for these parliamentary and state seats at 1.30pm.

PIC BY NAZIRUL ROSELAN Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin (left) and Independent candidate Khaidir Ahmad, who is a former TV3 journalist, in Temerloh yesterday.