KUALA LUMPUR – With a week to go before nomination day for the Johor polls, PKR has unveiled six fresh faces in the eastern and central zones.
In a candidate announcement ceremony this evening, party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that Haniff@Ghazali Hosman will be representing PKR in the Benut seat. Haniff will potentially be going against its incumbent and caretaker Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad.
Previously, Hasni, who is also Johor Barisan Nasional chairman, hinted that he will defend the seat in the upcoming polls.
Hasni has been the seat’s incumbent for three terms since the 2008 general election. For Johor Lama, Anwar said the party selected Johor Youth exco Omar Mokhtar Manap while 47-year-old Zulinah A Johari will contest in Tenggaroh.
Other new faces fielded by the opposition party are Mohd Zaiful Bakri in the Kukup constituency, Haryati Abu Nasir in Semarang and Rosman Tahir in Tg Surat.
Meanwhile, Senggarang incumbent Khairuddin Abdul Rahim will be contesting in the Rengit seat.
Khairuddin was an Amanah assemblyman before defecting to join PKR in February last year.
On Monday, Anwar announced PKR candidates for the northern zone seats for the upcoming Johor election, with five out of the seven names being fresh faces.
Among the seven names announced are two incumbents, namely Md Ysahrudin Kusni, who will defend his Bukit Naning seat, and Md Khuzzan Abu Bakar, who will defend his Semerah seat.
The new names include PKR Sekijang division chief Yoong Thau, who will compete in Pemanis; Naim Jusri, who will compete in Gambir, where the incumbent is former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; Azmi Masrani, selected to compete in Sri Medan; Abdullah Sahid for the Sg Balang seat; and Subramani Chami for the Buloh Kasap seat.
Meanwhile, feisty Johor Wanita PKR chief Napsiah Khamis Maharan will run for the Kempas seat after she lambasted Muda for muscling in on her turf in Puteri Wangsa.
PKR also revealed four other names contesting in southern Johor: Fakharuddin Moslim (Pasir Raja), Chiong Sen Sern (Bukit Batu), Zamil Najwah Arbain (Larkin), and Gopalakrishnan Subramaniam (Tiram).
Fakharuddin is Johor PKR Youth secretary and S. Gopalakrishnan is the Tiram incumbent.
As for Layang-Layang, new PKR member and former education minister Maszlee Malik will be running for the seat.
Layang-Layang is one of the two constituencies under his parliamentary seat of Simpang Renggam. – The Vibes, February 19, 2022