It will be a three-cornered battle for the crucial Pengakalan Pasir state seat in Kelantan, as former Umno Pasir Mas division leader Ibrahim Ali confirms that he will be in the race.

According to Bernama , he revealed this to some 200 supporters at a gathering in Kampung Dangar last night.

The other two candidates are Hanafi Mamat from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Hanifa Ahmad from PAS.

Ibrahim lost in the contest for the Pasir Mas parliamentary seat last year when he also stood as an independent and was subsequently expelled from Umno.

PAS confirmed that it would field Hanifa, the chief executive of the Kelantan state economic development corporation, last night.

The announcement was made in the presence of thousands of supporters who packed the Pasir Mas district council hall.

Best choice

Conceding that it would be a tough battle, PAS leaders however described Hanifa, 59, as their best choice.

Hanifa holds a Bachelor of Arts from Universiti Malaya and served as a sociologist in 1975 with Enex of New Zealand, an Auckland-based organisation.

Nomination day is tomorrow while polling is on Dec 6.

The by-election was called following the death of PAS assemblyperson Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Jaafar on Oct 31.

Pengkalan Pasir is seen as crucial to PAS and BN which now control 23 and 21 seats respectively in the 45-seat state assembly.

A win by BN would reduce the PAS majority in the assembly to one seat, a situation that could force the state government to call a snap election.