Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin said today that he hopes PAS will urge its followers to back BN candidate Mohamad Hasan if a by-election for the Rantau state seat is called.

"We are grateful that PAS is staying out of the Rantau by-election. I hope their supporters will back Tok Mat (Mohamad).

"This is good news for us because we don't want to split votes should three big parties be contesting. 

"I hope PAS will support Umno and BN in Rantau," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

Mohamad had retained Rantau unopposed during the May 9 election, but his win was invalidated by the Elections Court on grounds that a possible challenger – PKR candidate Dr S Streram (photo) – was prevented from entering the nomination centre illegally.

However, the court cannot grant a certificate of vacancy until all avenues of appeal are exhausted by Mohamad. So far, there are no indications that he will do so.

The Election Commission has said that it would wait for the courts to issue the certificate before calling for a by-election.

Following the court decision, Umno announced that Mohamad would defend the seat in the event of polls being called, while PAS said that it would sit out the contest once more. 

'Fundamentally different'

Meanwhile, Khairy said he was against an Umno-PAS merger because both parties were "fundamentally different."

"We can cooperate on certain issues and tactical (matters). 

"We agree on certain things, such as (our opposition to) the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd).

"But that's not just Umno and PAS. (Some in) Bersatu have similar views, (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim also," he said.