Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah is the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat by-election.Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made the announcement in Permatang Pauh Wednesday night.
Arif Shah is the assemblyman for Seberang Jaya, which is among the three state seats under the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.
The other two are Permatang Pasir, which was won by PAS in the March 8 general election; while PKR clinched the Penanti seat.
The Permatang Pauh seat fell vacant on July 31, when Anwar's wife and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail resigned to make way for her husband to contest.
Nomination for the by-election is Saturday while polling will be on Aug 26.
In the general election, Wan Azizah retained the seat by obtaining 30,338 votes against Datuk Pirdaus Ismail of Umno, who garnered 16,950 votes.
As at July 31, 58,459 voters, 490 of them postal, were registered as eligible to cast their ballots in the by-election.
Except for Seberang Jaya, which is a cosmopolitan centre, the rest of the constituency is made up of villages and farmland, mainly paddy fields.
Arif Shah was in tears when he was announced as the candidate.
Arif Shah is a two-term state representative. He can speak fluent Mandarin, an advantage obviously seen by the BN as a move to swing back the Chinese voters back to it.
Arif Shah had "multiracial and youthful appeal" and was "well-liked beyond communal boundaries, are enterprising and untainted clean personality".
Arif Shah's ace in the sleeve is that, he is familiar with Anwar's political style, having served as Permatang Pauh Youth chief when Anwar headed the Umno division there.
tunku : all the best to arif shah.it's a very very tough by election for him and bn.only miracle can make him wins.anwar is all set to win this by election.then again you never know.anwar for sure will promise moon and sky for everyone there but then again if he could be the pm, otherwise it is just a promise which he can't fulfill .so its the voters there to decide.
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4 comments:
personally i want arif shah to wins this by election but the task is quite impossible. anwar must be stopped at any cost.
Arif Shah is surely the underdog here compared to the already notorious Anwar.
but anything can happen in the world of politics.
Arif Shah credential up until now is outstanding and his Pusat Khidmat YB Arif Shah also had been acknowledged ISO 9001 2000 certificate.
suprisingly also he used to sit for various position in UMNO Permatang Pauh division.
then again,in paper Anwar already had conquered Permatang Pauh but i'm sure Dato Arif Shah not going to give him an easy run.
But again. BN is smart to put this guy as the opponent candidate against ANWAR. No doubt his popularity and rresponsilities in doing his job is unquestioned. He is the BN's local member of penang either, as requested by the local people to represent for the election.
All the best to Pak Arif Shah. Good to note that UMNO has made a right choice of candidate this time.
I do not see anything special about anwar and given the right strategy and issues to campaign around, BN can will Permatang Pauh seat with majority.
As I see it, the determining factor will be the malay votes which split had denied BN from wrestling back the PKR forte.
Since the last PRU, malays have noticed efforts to abolish NEP in Penang, use of chinese language for the street names, the non usage of Songkok in the state assembly, attempts to question Shariah Courts jurisdiction, UiTM 10% and many more.
All these are done by PKR's partners in which supported openly by Anwar or kept numb and silent.
If UMNO can deal with these issues effectively, then a win is possible.
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