Those nominated for the PAS deputy president and vice-presidents posts should avoid a contest and instead discuss among themselves on who should assume the posts, said party vice-president Mustafa Ali today.

He said the candidates should form a syura or consultative council to reach a consensus on the issue.

"This is to avoid contest between candidates," he told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby.

The Dungun MP's call comes after it was revealed that there were13 nominations for the deputy president post while 20 more have been nominated for the three vice-president posts.

Mustafa himself has been nominated for both the positions.

Acting president Abdul Hadi Awang - at the helm since the death of president Fadzil Noor ( right ) last June - will officially take the leadership of the party as there were no contenders for the top post.

His ascension to the top has left a vacuum for the deputy president's post and at the close of nominations last week, Mustafa is believed to be the favourite for the post.

He reportedly received 60 percent of the nominations with renowned religious scholar Harun Din ( left ) close at his heels.

However, the final list of nominations will only be confirmed tonight as nominees are given time to declare whether they wished to contest or not. The absence of a response would tantamount to accepting the nomination.

PAS principle

Elaborating further, Mustafa said: "In PAS there is no tradition of jockeying for positions in the higher echelons of the party. In Umno and other parties this might happen, but not in this party.

"It is one of PAS' principles, a principle in Islam, that positions will not go to anyone who asks or expresses a desire for those posts," he added.

Despite this, the PAS leader stressed that he would contest should the suggestion to have a syura was rejected by other candidates.

"I have asked my secretary to inform the election commission of my agreement to accept the nominations for both posts of deputy-president as well as vice-president," he said.

In response to a question, Mustafa said anybody could call for a syura and added that it was a recognised practice in the party.

Asked if supporters of the nominees would become upset if their candidates withdrew, he said PAS members were "not like that" and would support the outcome of the syura.

One withdrawal

It was said that Mustafa, a lawyer by training, was reluctant to vie for the deputy president post as this would contravene PAS' policy of 'leadership by ulama'.

Party elections will be held during the PAS Muktamar (annual general assembly) from Sept12 -14.

In a related development, sources said vice-president Dr Hassan Ali has refused to accept the nomination to contest for deputy president.

However, he could not be reached for comment.

Whereas PAS Youth chief Mahfuz Omar, who has been nominated for vice-president, told reporters at the Parliament lobby that he will contest.