BARISAN Nasional (BN) is ready to face any candidate from opposing parties in the Kemaman by-election, its chairman Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

“We are ready to face anyone, whether it is a former leader from our party who betrayed (us) or from the party whose victory was nullified,” he told reporters, after inspecting the implementation of Phase 1 of the Sungai Semantan Integrated River Basin Development project in Temerloh today.

Zahid said this when asked to comment on the possibility of PAS fielding a former Umno leader as a candidate in the Kemaman by-election, since former Ketereh MP Annuar Musa, had also been mentioned as one of the proposed names for the by-election.

PAS has to date not announced the party’s candidate, but among the names said to be on the shortlist are Terengganu Menteri Besar Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar and Che Alias Hamid, who won the seat in the 15th general election, before the Election Court nullified his victory.

BN has announced former chief of Defence Forces, Gen (Rtd) Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, as its candidate for the by-election.

In a related development, Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, said BN will follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) to campaign in a flood situation, if a disaster occurs during the by-election period as the northeast monsoon this month.

“We will follow the SOP set by the Election Commission (EC), but (campaigning) at the temporary evacuation centres, in my opinion, is important for us to appreciate and meet the flood evacuees first,” he said.

The by-election is being called following the Terengganu Election Court’s ruling on September 26, which nullified Che Alias’ victory. The EC has set December 2 for polling, this Saturday for nomination and early voting on November 28.

In the November polls last year, BN candidate Ahmad Said lost to Che Alias, with a majority of 27,179 votes, leading to a PAS sweep of all 14 parliamentary seats in Terengganu. – Bernama, November 14, 2023.