Pakatan Rakyat will announce who it will field for the Galas by-election tonight during a meet-the-people session in Gua Musang, Kelantan.

Malaysiakini understands the announcement will be preceded by speeches by PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat (right) and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

pas information meeting 090110 nik aziz The event, which will kick off at 9pm, is scheduled to be held at the Dataran Ilmu, next to the Faiz Mosque in Gua Musang town.

While the individual to be named is still unknown, the candidate will be from PAS, which has decided to determine the candidacy by vote .

Among the three touted to top the list of possible candidates are Gua Musang PAS deputy chief Dr Zulkefli Muhammad, youth chief Abdullah Husein, and Galas Orang Asli liaison chief Pandak Panjang Ey.

A medical doctor, Zulkefli was the PAS candidate who lost against Gua Musang Umno chief Razaleigh Hamzah in the 2008 elections, while Pandak Panjang is an Orang Asli engineer.

A source told Malaysiakini that the names of the three were submitted in a shortlist to the leadership.

According to the source further, other names that have been thrown into the mix as favourites were Gua Musang PAS vice-chief Husin Embong and secretary Azman Ahmad.

Nik Aziz is expected to make the final pick from among the shortlisted for the announcement later tonight, the source added.

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, who was supposed to join Anwar and Nik Aziz at the announcement ceremony tonight, however has fallen sick and will not be attending.

"Suffered severe attack of dizziness vomiting, hearing loss. Medically advised 2rest Will miss Pakatan leaders' function 4Galas by-election 2nite," he said in a posting on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

BN to announce candidate on Sunday

The state assembly seat fell vacant after PAS state assemblyperson Che Hashim Sulaima, who had been battling colon cancer, passed away late last month after a relapse.

Hashim won the Galas seat with a majority of 646 votes in the last general election, against incumbent Saufi Deraman of BN.

azlan The state constituency has 10,330 voters consisting of 65.4 percent Malays, 22.3 percent Chinese and 1.8 percent Indians. Most of the remaining 10.5 percent are Orang Asli, who number around 2,000 in Galas.

Galas, one of three state seats under the Gua Musang parliamentary constituency - long held by Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah - and is considered a BN stronghold.

It fell to PAS in the 2008 general elections after Chinese voters in Gua Musang town swung their votes against Umno.

Meanwhile, BN will be announcing its candidate for both the Galas and Batu Sapi by-elections on Sunday.

Razaleigh has agreed to spearhead the BN campaign, but has declined to be the candidate.