KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today said the coalition will not contest the by-election in Kuala Kubu Baru that must be called due to the death of its DAP incumbent.
Instead, Zahid said BN will support the candidate put forward by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
“We know that the Kuala Kubu Baru seat in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly has become vacant because its representative died, we feel that, even though the number of Malay voters in Kuala Kubu Baru has increased by about 50 per cent, but in order to respect the Madani government, I think we should respect the component party seats.
“So, whoever the candidate is, the Umno machinery, especially from Selangor, from BN, from MCA, will be with Umno to help the candidate,” he said in his speech when officiating Umno’s breaking of fast event, here.
On Thursday, DAP’s three-term Kuala Kubu Baru assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong died at the age of 58.
Local daily Sin Chew Daily cited Port Klang Authority chairman Ean Yong Hian Wah as confirming that Lee died due to cancer.
The PH and BN partnered after the 15th general election (GE15) in 2022, which ended with a hung parliament.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s PH — which won the most seats, but not a simple majority — cobbled up a coalition comprising once biggest political rivals, BN and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), to form what became the national unity government.
