PETALING JAYA, July 9 — PAS will contest the Kuala Besut by-election despite being urged to skip the poll as it will be held during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali.
Brushing off calls for the party to forego the July 24 election, Mustafa said there was no reason barring the party from contesting an election during the fasting month.
“If they say it is to respect the fasting month, the 1979 Kuala Besut by-election was also held during a fasting month,” Mustafa was quoted as saying by the Sinar Harian news portal today.
“Besides, it was not up to us to decide the date of the poll; that is up to SPR (Election Commission),” he added.
“We respect the process of democracy, which is why we are fielding a candidate.”
Yesterday, former Terengganu Mentri Besar and Besut Umno chief Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh urged PAS to forego the election out of respect for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) victory in Election 2013 and to honour the Muslim holy month.
Both BN and PAS are scheduled to announce their candidates for the by-election today.
On Friday, the EC had set nominations for July 12 and polling for July 24.
The by-election was called following the death of Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar on June 26 from lung cancer.
In Election 2013, Dr Rahman had defeated PAS’s Napisah Ismail with a comfortable 2,434-vote majority.
- malaymail
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