KUALA LUMPUR: "If I have the courage to contest, of course I have the confidence to win."
This was what former Gombak Setia assemblyman Hilman Idham said after casting his vote at SK Taman Seri Gombak 2, here, today.
Clad in a turquoise shirt and slacks, the Perikatan Nasional candidate who cast his vote in just under 10 minutes after he arrived at the polling centre, called for all voters in Gombak Setia to come out to cast their ballots.
He targeted at least an 85 per cent of voter turnout in the constituency.
"I had time to meet a few voters.
"I hope that in Gombak Setia, we can achieve a more than 85 per cent voter turnout because there is potential as there are positive responses by voters.
"I would like to remind all voters here to come to vote early as it is forecasted that it will rain in the evening," he told reporters after casting his vote at 8.53am.
Hilman is in a three-cornered fight against Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, who is Selangor Umno liaison committee chief and independent candidate Mohamed Salim Mohamed Ali.
In the 2018 election, he won the seat which he contested under the PKR banner.
At that time, the former political secretary to Datuk Seri Azmin Ali secured victory with 12,399-vote majority by defeating Megat and Pas's Hasbullah Ridzwan.
Hilman, who is a former PKR Youth deputy chief was expelled from the party in 2020, after he broke the wing's rules by calling Azmin, who was then the party's deputy president, to officiate the wing's congress without getting the leadership's approval.