ALOR STAR: Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) is placing its bets on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's grandnephew, Datuk Mohamad Nuhairi Rahmat, for the Alor Star parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Nuhairi, from Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), has been a businessman for over 20 years.
He said he was confident that he could bring changes to the economic and tourism sectors of Kedah's capital city if given the opportunity by the voters.
Nuhairi said that even though he had only spent a year in politics, he was not limited in his ideas on developing the city.
"I see that Alor Star has various facilities comparable with other cities in our country. Its residents also carry out various activities like running businesses, for example, small-time entrepreneurs selling food.
"I see that they have the potential to go far, but they might not have sufficient knowledge to expand the market for their products," he said at a press conference here today.
GTA, a loose coalition of non-governmental organisations led by Dr Mahathir, failed to get approval for registration in time for GE15 and will be contesting under the Pejuang banner.
The Alor Star parliamentary seat was previously held by PKR for two terms since GE13. It was formerly a MCA stronghold since 1955, even though more than 60 per cent of the its population is Malay.
In GE15, a five-cornered contest is expected to take place for the parliamentary seat involving independent candidates, in addition to candidates from Pakatan Harapan (PH), Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).