The race for positions in PAS is heating up, with more candidates than ever before trying their luck in the upcoming party elections.

According to the party elections committee chief, this year's party polls has attracted the highest number of candidates for the vice-presidents' posts.

pengerusi jawatankuasa pemilihan parti Datuk Abdul Halim Abd Rahman "I agree, this year has the hottest contest. There are a lot of people contesting for the vice-presidency, and they are all very big names in the party," said Abdul Halim Abd Rahman ( left ).

This year, there are six candidates for three veep positions - Kelantan exco members Husam Musa and Mohd Amar Abdullah, party information chief Idris Ahmad and former Perak MB Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar and Kubang Kerian MP Salahuddin Ayub will also be defending their vice-presidency posts.

There were only five veep candidates at the last party elections in 2009.

As expected, the Bachok MP Nasharudin Mat Isa will defend his deputy presidency against popular grassroots leader Mohamad Sabu and Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, who is looking for an elevation from his vice-president post.

53 other candidates will be contesting for 18 positions in the working committee.

Meanwhile, both the party president and the Youth chief - Abdul Hadi Awang and Nasrudin Hassan - have managed to sail back into their positions, winning uncontested.

The incumbent Dewan Muslimat (Women's wing) chief Nuridah Mohd Salleh, however, will be facing a challenge from her deputy Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff for the top post in the wing.

And despite the stiff fight in the parent body, all positions in Dewan Ulama (Ulama wing) went uncontested for the first time in a long while.

"Maybe their attitude and the mood to compete for posts is not so high in Dewan Ulama. So I salute them for solving this problem without fighting for posts," said Abdul Halim in a press conference at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this evening.

However, when asked by a reporter about his expectations, he said he is not too worried about "excessive campaigning and factionalism" in the upcoming party elections.

"For now, my heart is at ease. When I see the way the candidates campaign, I did not see it as being aggressive or excessive, so I'm not worried," he said.

Nik Aziz's 'campaigning' not worrisome

When asked to comment on spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat openly supporting Kelantanese candidates for the party elections, Abdul Halim also said it was not in breach of any elections rules.

"It is still up to the delegates. It doesn't mean that the delegates will follow completely what he says. In fact, it can sometimes backfire. Those who don't agree with him can get even more angry...

"Our delegates are intelligent. Sometimes they won't necessarily follow exactly what Tok Guru says," said Abdul Halim.

pas muktamar 130610 nik abdul aziz 4 It was reported by Sinar Harian that Nik Aziz ( right ) had openly showed his support for candidates from Kelantan, where he is the MB, saying that the candidate would be able to bring experience of being in the PAS-led state government to the party.

Many have interpreted this as an indirect nudge to the delegates to throw their support to Husam and Mohd Amar, both of whom sit in the state government.

Seven hundred and fifty delegates will vote for the Dewan Muslimat and Dewan Pemuda leadership respectively when they meet on June 2, while 1,100 delegates will vote in the parent body.

The 57th annual PAS Muktamar will be held from June 3 to 5 in Taman Melewar, Gombak.