PKR to defend all seats won in GE14, nominate Anwar as PM candidate

PKR today confirmed that it will defend all 48 parliamentary seats and 73 state seats won in the 2018 polls at the 15th general election (GE15) to come.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said this was one of the decisions made by the party leadership during its recent retreat in Subang Jaya.

"It was decided during the retreat that PKR will contest GE15 with the objective of winning and ruling. 

"If given the mandate by the people, our prime ministerial candidate will be (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim," he said when opening the annual national congress of the party's youth wing in Shah Alam today.

Saifuddin, who is Kulim Bandar Baharu MP, said it was also decided that a discussion would be held with other Pakatan Harapan (PH) component parties, namely DAP, Amanah and Upko, on additional seats to be contested by PKR, with the hope that PKR would emerge as the largest and strongest party.

"We have also instructed our election machinery to make the necessary preparations," he said at the congress attended by 422 delegates from across the country.

Saifuddin said the party leadership had also underlined three thrusts to be included in the party manifesto, namely efforts to combat corruption; rebuild the country’s economy including by putting an end to the rice monopoly and providing social protection for the people such as cash assistance; and using the universal basic income to replace minimum wage.

Saifuddin also called on the delegates to continue giving their support and loyalty to Anwar’s leadership and to dismiss any allegation that the Port Dickson MP was a liability to the party.

"The allegation that Anwar is a liability has been around since 1999, it is not new... but the fact is, Anwar led PKR to win five parliamentary seats in 1999 and increased that number to 48 in 2018, which enabled PH to form the government," he said.