KOTA BARU: Pas believes that voters in Kemaman will not give a chance to Barisan Nasional (BN) to win back the parliamentary seat in the upcoming by-election.
Pas vice president Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah said the party also believed Kemaman voters would continue to reject BN.
"The recent statement by BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that Kemaman is not Pas's stronghold and optimistic about winning back the parliamentary seat was only to please him and the party's supporters.
"The fact is that Zahid himself is not convinced that BN can capture the Kemaman parliamentary seat in the next by-election.
"The wave of the people's rejection of BN is still strong and continuing. I believe Kemaman voters will not give BN a chance to regain its power in Terengganu again," he said in a statement.
BN yesterday said it is optimistic about winning back the Kemaman parliamentary seat in the upcoming by-election, saying that it is not Pas's stronghold.
BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said despite lagging behind over 27,000 votes to win the seat in the previous 15th general election (GE15), BN had only lost due to political games.
"Kemaman is not Pas' stronghold, but Umno's.
"However, due to being hurled with issues, slander, and hatred towards Umno as well as the use of huge financial resources at that time, we lost about 27,000 votes.
"Therefore this time, we will place a candidate with a reputable background who has contributed a lot to the country outside of politics," Zahid said.
He said BN has fielded former Chief of Armed Forces, General (R) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor as a candidate to contest in the upcoming by-election and is confident that based on the feedback conducted, voters will give their support to Raja Affandi.
He also said BN's machinery has been fully prepared to assist Raja Affandi during campaigning, weeks before polling day slated on Dec 2.
The Election Commission (EC) has fixed Dec 2 as polling day for the Kemaman parliamentary seat by-election in Terengganu.
The commission also set Nov 18 as nomination day and Nov 28 for early voting.