VOTERS should very much have the prime minister candidates offered by coalitions in mind when casting their ballots, Pakatan Harapan’s Sungai Buloh candidate Ramanan Ramakrishnan said.

The first-time candidate from PKR said voters should select their parliamentary representatives based on merit of the prime minister candidates offered. 

He obliquely claimed that Ahmad Zahid Hamidi might become the prime minister despite the latter himself backing Ismail Sabri Yaakob for the top post. 

“The (parliamentary) candidates… yes (the voters must consider).

“But more importantly, who do you all want as the prime minister? 

“Do you want Zahid, Muhyiddin Yassin or Anwar Ibrahim? That (decision) is important,” the PKR deputy information chief said after completing the nomination process at the Petaling district office complex.

“We have to be successful in the seats we contest to ensure we, collectively, can contribute to the 112 parliamentary seats that is required to make Anwar the next prime minister. 

“Anwar must go to Putrajaya,” he said. 

Earlier today, Barisan Nasional’s Sungai Buloh candidate Khairy Jamaluddin rubbished suggestions that voting for him in the upcoming general election meant that voters are backing coalition chairman Zahid to become prime minister.

Khairy firmly reiterated that Ismail Sabri Yaakob is BN’s nominated prime minister should it win, not Zahid.

Ramanan was in high spirits, believing he could topple the other six candidates, including strong contender Khairy, to the seat. 

The former MIC politician admitted he was not as influential on social media as Khairy.

“Khairy said that he is an underdog here, especially on the ground but I think I’m an underdog when it comes to social media (campaigning).

“However, I have two sitting assemblymen here (Shathiri Mansor and Khairuddin Othman) who will help me through this campaign period and with all of us working together, I’m very confident and think we stand a very good chance,” he said, adding that he will unveil his manifesto tomorrow.

Sungai Buloh is set to be a seven-way tussle with two Independents also in the fray.  

Besides Ramanan and Khairy, the other candidates are Perikatan Nasional’s Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin, Pejuang’s Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff, Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s Ahmad Jufliz Faiza, and Independents Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff and Nurhaslinda Basri.  

Sungai Buloh is set to be a key battleground in the election, with more than 67,000 additional first-time ballots due to be cast after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 and automatic voter registration was implemented in September. – November 5, 2022.