UMNO To Field Local For Galas By-election

UMNO will field a local as the Barisan Nasional candidate in the coming Galas by-election, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin, who is also UMNO deputy president, said the candidate would be from the Gua Musang division.

"We will field the best candidate as decided by the party leadership.

"We believe that Tengku Razaleigh (Hamzah) as the division head, will assist Datuk Seri Mustapa (Mohamed), the state UMNO liaison chief, in ensuring victory for Barisan," he said after delivering Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razaks keynote address at the International Herald Tribune Forum on alternative investment in Asia, today.

The Galas state seat is now vacant, following the death of its incumbent, PAS' Che Hashim Sulaima, 48, on Monday from cancer.

Muhyiddin said Barisan had a 50-50 chance of wresting the seat from PAS.

"We will not take this contest lightly," he said.

In the 2008 general election, Che Hashim won the Galas seat from Barisan with a 646-vote majority. He obtained 4,399 votes while Barisan's Saufi Deraman polled 3,753 votes.

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public