KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan is highly likely to contest in Semenyih state seat by-election in Selangor which is slated to take place on March 2, says its president Datuk Dominic Lau.
He said the party had initiated a machinery to get the analysis and feedbacks from the voters in the constituency.
“We want to know the people’s acceptance towards Gerakan after we pulled out from Barisan Nasional (BN) and the final decision will be made by the party’s central working committee (CWC),” he said during a press conference at the party’s headquarters here today.
When asked for the criteria of the candidate, Lau said he believed there would be no problem for the party to choose winnable candidate as the party is multi-racial.
“Our members consist of Malay, Chinese, and Indian so I believe we have a lot of potential candidates if we decided to field one,” he said.
However, Lau said by-election is not the main priority for the party as it only served as an indicator.
“Our main priority is to consolidate ourselves for the next general election. It is more important for the party because since we have lost everything during the last general election, our main mission is to return to parliament and state seats.”
On June 23, Gerakan unanimously decided to leave the BN coalition to embark on a new political journey with freedom, empowerment, and an assertion in pursuing the party’s beliefs.
When asked to comment on the recently concluded Cameron Highlands by-election, Lau said it does not directly reflect the acceptance of Chinese and Indian voters to return to support BN.
“The victory of BN was due to the strong support they received from Pas. This result did not give a clear picture on the returning of Chinese and Indians voters to support BN.
“However, I would like to congratulate BN’s candidate Ramli Mohd Nor on his win. The defeat of Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate was a reminder to its leaders that they are representatives of the people to serve the people’s interests and they need to walk the talk,” he said.
The Semenyih seat fell vacant following the death of assemblyman Bakhtiar Mohd Nor on Jan 11 from a heart attack. He was 57.
In the 14th General Election, Bakhtiar defeated candidates from BN, PAS and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) in a four-cornered fight, with a majority of 8,964 votes. He garnered 23, 428 votes.