KUALA LUMPUR – Amanah has confirmed that Kuala Selangor incumbent Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad will defend the seat to face the strong likelihood that Umno will field caretaker finance minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
Amanah deputy president Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub confirmed the former health minister’s candidacy today, saying the party leadership wants him to contest again in the seat where he has won twice.
“Since Umno wants to place Tengku Zafrul as its candidate in the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat, the Amanah and Pakatan Harapan (PH) leadership want Dr Dzul to defend the seat once again.
“This is because the 15th general election (GE15) is critical and very serious. It is important that each seat is won by PH,” Salahuddin said in a statement.
Amanah is banking on Dzulkefly given his track record among local constituents as well as his service in the Selangor Task Force on Covid-19, and his tenure as health minister when PH was in federal power.
Dzulkefly first won the Kuala Selangor seat in the 2008 general election, by an 862-vote margin, in a straight fight against an Umno candidate. At the time, he was with PAS, which was in alliance with DAP and PKR under the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat pact.
He lost the seat in the 2013 polls but made a comeback in 2018 on an Amanah-PH ticket with an 8,498-vote majority in a three-cornered fight with an Umno and PAS candidate. – The Vibes, October 20, 2022
