Kedah PKR secretary Mohamad Sofee Razak has been named as Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat in the 15th general election.
The announcement was made by Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub. Also present at the announcement were several state-level PH leaders, including Kedah PH chairman Mahfuz Omar.
Sofee, 47, a lawyer, is replacing PH’s previous candidate, M Karupaiya, 69, who died on November 16, believed to be due to a heart attack and health complications.
Sofee had previously contested the Kuala Ketil state seat in the 2018 polls.
Salahuddin said it is important for the coalition to win the Padang Serai seat, thus increasing the number of PH lawmakers.
“He (Sofee) is a young leader. In terms of qualifications, skills and experience, Insya-Allah, it cannot be disputed, and we believe that he will be able to carry PH’s victory banner in Padang Serai on polling day,” he said.
The Election Commission previously announced that following Karupaiya’s death, polling for the Padang Serai constituency was postponed.
It then fixed December 7 as polling day while early voting is on December 3. Nomination is tomorrow.
Sofee is expected to face five opponents – Hamzah Abd Rahman (Pejuang-Putra), C. Sivaraajh (Barisan Nasional-MIC), Bakhri Hashim (Warisan), Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional-Bersatu) and Sreanandha Rao (Independent).
In the 2018 polls, Karupaiya, representing PH, won the seat with a majority of 8,813 votes, defeating PAS candidate Muhamad Sobri Osman and BN’s Leong Yong Kong.
Polling for the Padang Serai seat will be carried out at 46 polling centres, involving 230 channels. For early voting, there will be one polling centre with two channels.
The electoral roll to be used for the election contains 133,867 voters.