Nazri eyes GE16 comeback, confident of recapturing Padang Rengas

Petaling Jaya: Azahari Hasan, currently the Member of Parliament for Padang Rengas, has firmly declared his intention to retain his seat in the 16th general election (PRU16), despite the desire of the Nazri Aziz to return to contesting the same constituency. The former Bersatu member, now part of Wawasan, stated that he will continue to contest under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) ticket after winning the seat in the 15th general election (PRU15).

Despite now being in Wawasan, Azahari intends to run again under PN's ticket, emphasizing that he will not easily surrender the seat to the Barisan Nasional (BN).

While Azahari acknowledges Nazri's desire to return to politics, he points out that it's been a year since such a wish was expressed, yet Nazri has not personally informed him about it. Earlier, Nazri, who represented Padang Rengas for four terms from 2004 to 2022, affirmed that the constituency remains a BN stronghold and urged PN to secure a different seat. However, the current arrangement of a BN-UMNO alliance in several states has led to cooperation in the electoral process.

In his tenure of nearly four years in Padang Rengas without moving, Azahari firmly believes in his ability to uphold the constituency. He notes that his position is comparable to Nazri's leadership of the Umno faction in the area. Both of them claim the same status of being the heads of their respective factions. "He is the chief of the division. I am also the chief of the Division Wawasan. So, we are similar and we will also hold it," he stated.

However, Azahari clarifies that Nazri's desire to return is a personal inclination, not an official decision from BN. "His personal desire is his personal wish, not representing the highest leadership of BN... the final decision is made by the party," he added. Azahari stated that there have been no discussions about any conflict of interest regarding retaining the seat and surrendering it to the leadership of both alliances for preservation.

"That will be handed over to the top leadership. Because if we meet under here, he can't issue a cancellation, as he mentioned when asked if there is a plan to meet Nazri," he explained. While he does not rule out the possibility of exchanging seats between BN and PN through discussions, he believes that the incumbent incumbent is better kept as is. "Or perhaps 'worst to worst' could be 'swap', but the 'better incumbent' we will keep."