Umno right to demand Alor Setar seat, says Mahdzir

July 21, 2024

Umno right to demand Alor Setar seat, says Mahdzir

PETALING JAYA: Umno’s desire to reclaim the Alor Setar parliamentary seat is unlikely to create a rift within the unity government, says Kedah Umno chief Mahdzir Khalid.

He said it would instead strengthen Barisan Nasional (BN) ahead of the next general election.

Mahdzir said there is no issue with Alor Setar Umno making this demand, despite the seat having been previously won by Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 14th general election and later seized by Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the 15th general election.

He said that Umno has a right to seek the Alor Setar parliamentary seat and one state assembly seat under the same constituency.

“It is reasonable to reassess which party should contest in the parliamentary and state assembly seats, or any area, for the greater good,” he said in a statement.

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Mahdzir was responding to media reports that Alor Setar Umno passed a resolution to demand the Alor Setar parliamentary seat and one of the state seats.

His remarks come despite Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi previously saying that for areas not won by the parties in the unity government in the general or state elections, the formula would be for the party with the second highest number of votes to contest.

In GE15, PN’s Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden won the Alor Setar parliamentary seat with a majority of 9,931 votes, defeating PH’s Simon Ooi (27,555 votes) and BN’s Tan Chee Hiong (8,930 votes). In GE14, PH won the seat with a majority of over 15,000 votes.

In last August’s state election in Kedah, the BN-PH coalition lost both Suka Menanti and Alor Mengkudu but DAP managed to retain Kota Darulaman.