PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali’s offer of his Gombak seat to Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad is something of a “poisoned chalice”, said PAS research director Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki.

A Malaysiakini report quoted Zuhdi as saying Azmin feared losing in Gombak and would rather Dr Mahathir take the fall.

“I don’t know what Azmin’s motive is in letting the Gombak seat go, but I can say it is a seat that is not safe for PKR, based on our analysis of three-cornered fights.

“If it is not safe for him (Azmin), then I am sure it is even more unsafe for Dr Mahathir, as Gombak voters are urban folk who have been through ‘reformasi’ in the past.

“They had followed Dr Mahathir in the past, and they would feel bad about what had happened (during his era),” Zuhdi said after an event at Kolej Universiti Islam Zulkifli Muhammad in Taman Melewar, Gombak, today.

“Therefore, if Dr Mahathir contests in Gombak, (it is likely) to be an effort to thwart his efforts to be prime minister (should PH win the 14th general election).

“This could be the hidden agenda, but I do not know what the real intention is.”

PAS has said it wants the Gombak seat again, following the party’s fallout with PKR and the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat oppositon pact.

It was reported on December 3 last year that Azmin was eyeing the Shah Alam seat, which is currently held by Amanah’s Khalid Abdul Samad.

The seat was given to Amanah during PH’s federal seat negotiations, which concluded two weeks ago.

It was reported last year that Azmin was worried that PKR might be on the losing end in Selangor, if there were three-cornered fights and a redelineation exercise.

Five of PKR’s 13 state seats in Selangor have slim majorities of less than 5% margins – Ijok (51.3%), Taman Medan (53.9%), Kota Anggerik (54%), Batu Tiga (54.1%) and Batu Caves (55%).

Azmin’s own state seat of Bukit Antarabangsa and executive councillor Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s Sri Setia seat also hang in the balance, with margins of victory of just 6.4% and 6.2%, respectively.

In GE13, Azmin garnered 54,827 votes in the contest for the Gombak seat, beating Barisan Nasional’s Raman Ismail, who got 50,093 votes, by a 4.4% margin. – January 14, 2018.