Ex Mb Vs Mb For Gombak With Azmin Set To Face Amirudin Says Ngo

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Azmin Ali and Amirudin Shari were believed to be allies in PKR prior to Azmin’s defection to PPBM last year.PETALING JAYA: It will be ex-mentri besar vs the current one with Azmin Ali likely to face his successor and former ally Amirudin Shari in his defence of the Gombak parliamentary seat in the next general election (GE15).
This is the prediction based on data collated by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that launched its election tracking website today.
Kuasa, which was formed in 2014 to empower groups and individuals, said the website was to help the public get all the information in preparation for GE15.
At a press conference today, Kuasa president Praba Ganesan said the Gombak contest was just one of the key developments on GE15 that the NGO was able to derive based on research.
“The incumbent Azmin can expect stiff competition from Umno and PKR as it has been speculated that Amirudin is likely contest the seat,” he said of the Selangor menteri besar who was believed to be Azmin’s ally prior to the latter’s defection to PPBM last year. Azmin is now senior minister in the Perikatan Nasional government.
“With the Umno and PPBM split, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is also expected to face a stern test from deputy home minister Ismail Mohamed Said of Umno for the Pagoh parliamentary seat.
“PKR communications chief Fahmi Fadzil may be facing double trouble as Lembah Pantai Umno chief Ramlan Askolani lies in wait, along with possibly a surprise in the form of finance minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Aziz for the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat.”
Speaking about the need for the tracking website, Praba said a vast majority of Malaysians do not know who the candidates are in their constituency even days after nomination.
“This would mean Malaysians have approximately eight to 10 days before polling day to find out more about the candidates standing for election. This is just too short a time to form an opinion on who can best represent them,” he said.
Praba added that Kuasa’s tracking website would offer details on constituencies, previous contests, possible or confirmed candidates based on news and internal party sources prior to nomination day, and social media tracking of candidates.
He said links to further information on candidates, parties and issues related to each contest would be added. Praba believes that this early information will empower voters to give feedback to the parties about their candidates.
“Party members can also use this information on our site because discussions on candidates and seat negotiations were not often revealed to them,” he said.
According to him, the website currently only tracks 20 parliamentary races due to limited resources.
However, he does see a potential to cover more seats, including those in Sabah and Sarawak in future.
The Kuasa election tracking website, mykuasa.org/pru15, will go live on Wednesday at noon. - FMT

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