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The party insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told FMT that PN candidate Rizwadi Ismail was found to be “popular only with the congregations at the mosques”.
However, Barisan Nasional fielded “the right candidate” in Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani, who won the seat with a comfortable majority of 3,352 votes. Azmawi secured 9,091 votes while Rizwadi managed only 5,739 votes.
The PN source said Azmawi was very close to the youth in Nenggiri and Gua Musang, and had sponsored youth events.
Azmawi also leveraged on his position as a board member of the South Kelantan Development Authority, which set up “70% of the facilities” in Gua Musang.
“Which is why the youth vote swung his way,” the source said.
PN also suffered internal dissent over the choice of candidate, the source said. Bersatu had mooted two candidates but PAS was not too keen on them because of their experience with Azizi Abu Naim, who won in 2022 on a Bersatu ticket.
The party stated in June that he had ceased to be a member, which led to the seat being declared vacant, causing the by-election.
“PAS said Bersatu had a bad reputation and pushed for a former PAS member. It wasn’t a good idea. Maybe if PN fielded either one of the Bersatu members we proposed we would have stood a better chance,” the source said.
Another liability in the campaign was Annuar Musa, the PN election director for Nenggiri, according to Hisyamuddin Ghazali, an activist linked to Pakatan Harapan.
He said Annuar not only came off as arrogant, but one who liked to show-off his wealth which saw him rejected by the voters. “The decision to recycle leaders like Annuar did not have any significant impact,” he said in a Facebook post.
Hisyamuddin, who vied for the Kuala Krai seat in the 2022 general election, also claimed that the schism between the Bersatu and PAS grassroots, due to the candidate selection, had contributed to PN’s loss.
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