Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said PAS should be contesting the Kuala Kangsar by-election instead of Pakatan Harapan as the opposition coalition has "no hope".

Nazri, who is also Umno supreme council member, claimed this was evident from Harapan's dismal performance in the recently concluded Sarawak election.

Nazri, who was initially reluctant to comment on the possibility of Harapan contesting in Kuala Kangsar, went on to chastise the coalition.

"This is their problem and it has nothing to do with me but the constituency had always been contested by PAS and Harapan has no hope.

"They don't have hope - they even lost badly in Sarawak - so I think it is PAS' right to contest (in Kuala Kangsar).

"The one that is strong is PAS, not Harapan," he told Malaysiakini.

In the recently concluded Sarawak election, DAP only managed to retain seven out of its 12 seats, PKR retained all three of its seats while Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), which entered the fray for the first time, failed to win any seats.

Likewise, PAS also lost all the seats it contested in the state election.

The incumbent Kuala Kangsar MP Wan Mohammad Khai-ril Anuar Wan Ahmad perished in a helicopter crash while helping to campaign for BN in the Sarawak election.

Also on board the ill-fated helicopter was deputy minister Noriah Kasnon, who is the MP for Sungai Besar. A by-election is also expected to be called there.

Four others on board were Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry secretary-general Sundaran Annamalai, Noriah's husband Asmuni Abdullah and bodyguard Ahmad Sobri as well as pilot Rudolf Rex Raga.

There were no survivors.

The Election Commission (EC) today said it had received notice from the Dewan Rakyat that the two constituencies have fallen vacant and is expected to announce details of the by-elections on May 13.

Both Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar are marginal seats won by BN in the 2013 general election with a 1,082-vote majority and 399-vote majority respectively.