PAS wants its members to vote for MCA candidate in next month's Balakong state seat by-election.

Its president Abdul Hadi Awang said the call is made on the basis of solidarity as the Opposition.

"Insha Allah (God willing), as we are together in the spirit of the Opposition," he told reporters when answering a question on whether PAS will order its members to vote for the MCA candidate in the by-election.

Hadi said this in Petaling Jaya last night, in response to questions from reporters after he had named the PAS candidate for the Seri Setia by-election.

Two days ago, MCA announced its Cheras Batu 11 branch Youth chief Tan Chee Teong (photo) as its candidate to contest in the Balakong by-election.

The Balakong and Seri Setia by-elections will be held concurrently on Sept 8.

Meanwhile, Hadi, who is also the Marang MP, expressed confidence that Umno members will vote for PAS in the Seri Setia by-election.

"Umno has its own influence and can add value to us," he said.

'PAS will open its doors to all'

Hadi said that his party welcomes all who want to help in campaigning for PAS in Seri Setia, including the former prime minister Najib Razak.

"We don't close our doors to anybody. It's up to them if they want to come (to help in our campaign)," he said.

Umno had chosen not to contest in the by-election and instead paved the way for PAS to put up its candidate for the Seri Setia seat.

PAS had done a similar thing in the recent Sungai Kandis by-election, excluding itself from the contest to "make it easy to defeat the Pakatan Harapan candidate".

At the media conference last night, PAS named its former Selat Kelang assemblyperson Dr Halimah Ali as the candidate for the Seri Setia by-election.

The seat has been vacant following the demise of its incumbent Shaharuddin Badaruddin on Aug 2.

In the 14th general election, Shaharuddin, who is from PKR, won with a majority of 19,372 votes, defeating BN candidate Yusoff M Haniff, Mohd Ghazali Daud of PAS and S Vigneswaran (Independent).