People of Kedah have already chosen PN, says Padang Serai candidate

The people of Kedah have already expressed their wishes by voting for Perikatan Nasional in the 15th general election, said the coalition's candidate for Padang Serai, Azman Nasruddin.

As such, he said it is best for Pakatan Harapan and BN - who are now allies - to pack up and bow out from the race.

"Padang Serai will be PN's 13th parliamentary seat from Kedah.

"The chances for PN to win this election are bright or even brighter now, compared to earlier because Harapan and BN are now together in the unity government.

"So, what is the status of Harapan and BN supporters after both coalitions decided to work together, one is a thief and the other rejected the thief," he asked.

Azman (above) was speaking to the media during a walkabout at a pasar malam in Kelang Lama, Lunas today.

BN candidate C Sivarraajh and Harapan's Mohamad Sofee Razak also visited the pasar malam tonight to meet the traders and the people to seek their support.

Commenting on the two, Azman said both sides had asked the other to give way.

"Harapan asked BN (whether it should) withdraw from the race and BN said 'three days ago you asked us to go'.

"I would say both of them should withdraw from the race," he added.

Will Umno members vote Harapan?

Highlighting the polarising differences between each coalition's support base, Azman questioned whether Umno members will vote for Harapan.

Likewise, he also asked whether Harapan's Chinese supporters would support BN and its "court cluster" - a reference to Umno leaders on trial for corruption.

He said this clash of ideals would likely see supporters from both Harapan and BN vote PN instead.

"We foresee a major swing of Umno members and Chinese voters (supporting) Harapan to vote for us to ensure our victory," Azman said.

Padang Serai is a mixed seat, with around 40 percent non-Malay voters of whom half are Chinese.

In 2018, Harapan - with Bersatu's support - won the seat with just 45.3 percent of votes after a large number of opposition voters backed PAS - which received 32.7 percent of votes.

PAS and Bersatu's joint strength as PN saw the coalition swoop up almost all parliamentary seats in Kedah during Saturday's election save for Sungai Petani.

When asked if it has been easy sailing for PN in the by-election, Azman replied: "God willing, we contest in the by-election to win and we will fight to ensure our victory."

The election for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat will see a six-cornered fight between Azman, Mohamad Sofee Razak (Harapan), Sivarraajh (BN), Hamzah Abdul Rahman (Pejuang), Bakri Hashim (Warisan) and Sreanandha Rao (Independent).

Sofee is the Kedah PKR secretary and a lawyer. Sivarraajh is the MIC vice-president and a businessperson.

Azman is currently the Lunas state assemblyperson and an exco-member of the Kedah government. Azman defected from PKR in 2020 and joined Bersatu.

Bakri, meanwhile, is still considered a candidate although he had announced his withdrawal.

Polling for the seat had been delayed after Harapan's candidate M Karupaiya died during the campaign period.

Polling for the by-election has been scheduled for Dec 7.

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