New faces include senator and caretaker finance minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (Kuala Selangor), UMNO supreme council member Hizatul Isham Abdul Jalil (Shah Alam), and UMNO information chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan (Alor Gajah).
BN’s candidates in the peninsula comprise 103 from UMNO, 43 from the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and 10 from the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). The list also integrated four candidates through parties considered as Close friends of BN.
Ahmad Zahid did not name candidates for several constituencies, without giving reasons.
These include the seat of Tanjung Karang in Selangor, held by UMNO member and caretaker entrepreneur development plus cooperatives minister Noh Haji Omar, as well as Tumpat in Kelantan, held by Parti Se-Islam Malaysia’s Che Abdullah Mat Nawi.
MIC leaders were not present in the event, with local media reports saying that they will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the party’s future amid a supposed disagreement with UMNO over the amount of seats allocated.
Ahmad Zahid will defend his Bagan Datuk seat in Perak, where he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1995.
He will face Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, who was shifted from the Hang Tuah Jaya seat in Melaka and has stated that he hopes to keep his “giant killer” reputation.
Caretaker prime minister plus UMNO vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob will defend his chair in Bera, Pahang, which he won at the 2018 selection against a PKR candidate with a thin 2, 311 vote majority.
Ahmad Zahid had stated on Oct sixteen that the decision in order to nominate Mr Ismail Sabri as BN’s candidate for best minister, should the coalition win GE15, has been final.
UMNO’s Sheikh Mohamed Puzi Sheikh Ali, the particular incumbent Peramu Jaya assemblyman, will operate in Pekan, Pahang, taking over jailed previous prime minister Najib Razak. There were earlier rumours that Najib’s eldest son Mohd Nizar Najib would certainly contest the seat.
Najib, who is seeking a royal pardon, will not be allowed to campaign while serving a 12-year sentence for any corruption case regarding a former 1Malaysia Advancement Berhad (1MDB) unit, SRC International.
Caretaker health minister Khairy Jamaluddin will certainly run in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, after the former Rembau MP said he was almost certain to be given a seat which is held by the opposition.
PKR candidate R Sivarasa, part of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, taken the newly-created Sungai Buloh constituency within 2018. But he has since been slipped by PKR. Mr Khairy will instead go up against PH’s Ramanan Ramakrishnan, a former MIC treasurer-general.
Missing from the listing of candidates are at least four caretaker ministers in Mr Ismail Sabri’s Cabinet, who have been dropped just times before nomination day on this Saturday. Polling will take place on Nov 19.
These include caretaker federal areas minister and Arau MP Shahidan Kassim and caretaker marketing communications and multimedia minister and Ketereh MP Annuar Musa.
Earlier, Malaysian media reports had cited sources since saying that both Mister Shahidan and Mr Annuar were skeptical of Ahmad Zahid’s leadership.
Furthermore missing from the applicants list are caretaker national unity ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) and Kota Tinggi MP Halimah Mohamed Sadique, as well as caretaker science, technology and innovation minister plus Tenggara MP Adham Baba.
SEEKING A NEW MANDATE
During GE14 within 2018, BN just won 79 seats and was defeated after 60 years within power, as voters chafed at accusations of graft towards senior figures.
The opposition PH coalition and its ally Parti Warisan cumulatively secured 121 seats, winning a simple vast majority out of 222 seats to form the government.
Then-chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in his capacity as leader of the PH coalition, was sworn in for the 2nd time as primary minister.
Yet infighting over who would succeed Dr Mahathir and a political manoeuvre dubbed the “Sheraton Move” saw the particular collapse of the PH government less than 2 yrs later, replaced with a new Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition directed by Bersatu chief executive Muhyiddin Yassin.
After months associated with political bickering inside the PN government — which included BN component parties – and criticism of how the government handled the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Muhyiddin finally resigned in August 2021.
Mr Muhyiddin’s leaving saw the return of BN towards the apex of power with the appointment associated with Mr Ismail Sabri as the third excellent minister in the last two years.
Ahead of this particular year’s election, BN has said it is concentrating on to win at least 112 seats to be the dominant party within government. But Mister Ismail Sabri reports that BN cannot field any candidate and expect a simple win due to the altering political situation.
An election had not been due until Sept 2023, but Mr Ismail Sabri experienced pressure from some factions of their ruling coalition, including Ahmad Zahid, to keep the vote earlier.