GE14 | Gagasan Sejahtera will be fielding Langkawi PAS chief Zubir Ahmad (above) as its candidate for Langkawi, despite previous arrangements to field a National Alliance Party (Ikatan) candidate.

Kedah PAS commissioner Ahmad Fakhruddin Sheikh Fakhrurrazi, who made the announcement at the Kedah PAS headquarters in Kota Sarang Semut today, said the decision was made after Ikatan informed PAS that it is not prepared to field a candidate in the parliamentary constituency.

Zubir, a 55-year old seafood entrepreneur, had contested in three previous general elections and was last fielded for the Ayer Hangat state seat in Langkawi during the 2013 general election, but lost by 5,311 votes.

He will be facing Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and the Umno incumbent Nawawi Ahmad who won the seat with a whopping 11,861-vote majority during the last general election.

Asked about the prospect of facing Mahathir and Nawawi in the coming election, Zubir claimed that PAS has a good chance of winning because Umno ranks in Langkawi are split between the incumbent Nawawi and the former Umno president Mahathir.

“When Mahathir contests in Langkawi against the incumbent as a former prime minister of 22 years, Mahathir will draw about 25 percent of votes from Umno.

“If he draws 25 percent of votes, it is like a see-saw. If it goes down in one place, it goes up in another. So PAS is taking this opportunity, and looking at the environment today and current political situation, PAS stand a good chance there (in Langkawi),” he said.

He added that the PAS’ local machinery is better prepared than that of the other two contenders.

In a related development, Fakhruddin also announced that Jerai PAS deputy chief Sabri Azit will be replacing Mohamad Ismail as the party’s prospective candidate for the Jerai parliamentary constituency.

He cited “legal” and “technical” reasons for the swap in Jerai.

When asked whether these reasons were factors that could have disqualified Mohamad from running in the election, Fakhruddin replied, “We are fielding a better candidate than the one before.”

He said Sabri, 52, is a Jawi teacher as a secondary school and this will be his first time as an election candidate.

Sabri is expected to face the Umno incumbent Jamil Khir Baharom in the election, as well as Bersatu’s founding member Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi.

Jamil is currently the caretaker minister in the prime minister’s department in charge of Islamic affairs. He narrowly won Jerai with a majority of 1,196 votes in the last general election, which is a margin of only 1.9 percent of the ballots cast.

The 44-year old Akhramsyah, meanwhile, is an oil industry consultant and the son of the late Sanusi Junid. Sanusi was the Kedah menteri besar from 1996 to 1999 and was also a former cabinet minister.