THREE-TERM Gombak MP Mohamed Azmin Ali won’t budge and will contest the next general election here despite an angry electorate, said an aide.

The aide told The Malaysian Insight that Azmin is confident he’ll win over voters disappointed with the former PKR deputy president’s defection from Pakatan Harapan, which led to the government’s collapse in February.

However, the senior minister in Muhyiddin Yassin’s cabinet is set to face a tough fight from his former party PKR, which is keen to wrest back the seat which it considers its own.

“Of course, he will stay and defend. We are confident he can retain the seat with his good track record.

“He has served Gombak without excluding anyone and this is evident by the numbers of votes he received in the last general election.

“In every election, his votes increased,” said the aide who refused to be identified.

In the 2008 general election, Azmin received 40,334 votes to defeat a Barisan Nasional candidate by 6,867 votes, winning the seat held by Umno since its formation in 1995.

In 2013, Azmin received 54,827 votes to defeat BN and independent candidates by 4,734 votes.

In GE14, as a powerful and influential PKR deputy president, Azmin retained the seat by a whopping 48,721 votes against the BN and PAS candidates.

His stock ecently fell in PKR-dominated Gombak following his exit from PKR with a group of lawmakers to Muhyiddin’s Bersatu.

They then joined forces with BN and PAS, along with parties from Sabah and Sarawak to form a new federal government.

PKR sacked Azmin and his supporters but the group is set to join Bersatu soon.

Gombak PKR is now keen to show that it can survive without Azmin and wants to win the seat to prove its point.

A deputy branch chief here, Abdul Rahim Kasdi, played down Azmin’s influence in the area.

He said PKR’s real threat comes from PAS and Umno.

“We are not worried about Azmin and his splinter group. Our real threat is Umno and PAS and we are not denying that.

“They have a good support base here,” Rahim told The Malaysian Insight.

Rahim also said PKR Gombak remains solid despite Azmin’s defection.

“The impact was minimal and yes, only a few loyalists left the party with him.

“The majority of the grassroots are still with PKR and we’re still solid.” – August 18, 2020.