Umno Youth has suggested that Tumpat division Umno Youth chief Rosidi Mahmud Kamaruddin be considered as the BN candidate for the Pengkalan Kubor by-election.

Its chief, Khairy Jamaluddin said this was in the light of 10,004 young voters who made up 43 percent of the voters in the Kelantan state constituency.

"Young voters will impact on the number of votes. I urge the party's top leadership to put him (Rosidi Mahmud) in the short list of candidates for the by-election.

"Rosidi Mahmud has been the Tumpat Umno division Youth chief for two terms and is respected and known to the local populace," he told a media conference after chairing an Umno Youth Central Committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Khairy said the decision was arrived at after a meeting of the movement's management committee recently and the name of the candidate had been sent to the party's top leadership on Wednesday.

Commenting further, Khairy said Umno Youth would use the same strategy which was used in the Teluk Intan by-election in May.

"We will focus on approaching as many young voters as possible and this will be done via various programmes which have been planned.”

Three-term Pengkalan Kubor State Assemblyman Noor Zahidi Omar, 57, died due to liver cancer at a hospital in Guangzhou, China last week.

At the last general election, Noor Zahidi, who represented the BN, beat PKR candidate Saharun Ibrahim and Independent Izat Bukhary Ismail Bukhary with a majority of 1,736 votes.

- Bernama