MYPPP president M. Kayveas has thrown in his hat to contest in the Cameron Highlands by-election on January 26, saying that he already has 3,000 votes in hand

“The party’s supreme council members gave their unanimous support to contest the by-election after a meeting today.

“The candidate is myself, they have recommended me as the candidate. To make the by-elections more exciting, we should contest,” he told the media at MyPPP headquarters here in Kg Attap, Kuala Lumpur.

Saying that his chance of winning was 50-50, Kayveas said his party will work as a third force as it neither supported Barisan Nasional nor Pakatan Harapan.

“Information we are getting from the ground shows we have a chance,” he said, surrounded by his supporters.

“We have gone through some hard times and when we wanted to leave BN, we were pressured and threatened. We have now decided to stand on our own and enjoy our freedom.

“We have 3,000 votes in hand and we will have to work hard to get the rest to win,” said Kayveas.

He said he will champion local issues such as labour, heavy traffic, environment, land titles disputes and Orang Asli issues.

“The traffic situation there is bad where on weekends and holidays, a 3km to 4km journey can take two hours, it gets ridiculously congested,” he said.

He also brushed aside MIC’s chances of winning the seat, saying that the BN component party had no suitable candidates.

“My analysis is that it will be wrong for MIC to field a candidate since I am also a candidate,” he said.

Kayveas had eyed the Cameron Highlands seats in the 14th general election last May but BN had decided to give the seat to MIC as the party had traditionally contested there.

Kayveas said he had worked in the constituency for four years in the hope of contesting there in GE14.

The Cameron Highlands seat was won by BN in GE14, with MIC’s C. Sivarraajh winning 10,307 votes against Pakatan Harapan’s M. Manogaran’s 9,710 votes in a five-cornered fight.

However, the Election Court on November 30 declared BN’s win null and void after finding corrupt practices were committed to induce voters to vote.

The Election Commission fixed nomination on January 12 and polling on January 26. The commission also confirmed that Sivarraajh is not qualified to contest in the by-election.

DAP’s Manogaran will be contesting again under the PH banner while MIC has yet to name its candidate. With Kayveas in the race, the by-election is set to be at least a three-cornered fight.

There were 32,048 voters in the last general election in this constituency. – January 6, 2019.