The party’s communications director, Khalid Samad, said the three surveys conducted also show that PAS was lagging behind.

Umno and Pakatan, he claimed, garnered 52% and 40% of the support respectively.

“So voting for PAS is useless as it contributes nothing to fight against Umno-BN,”he told reporters at the Sungai Besar Amanah Office here today.

The Selangor constituency will witness a three-cornered fight involving PAS Meru state assemblyperson Abd Rani Othman, BN’s Budiman Mohd Zohdi and PH’s Azhar Abdul Shukor.

Azhar is from Amanah.

Meanwhile, Khalid laughed off claims from Sungai Besar Umno Division Chairman Jamal Mohd Yunos that Azhar is an “unknown” and an outsider.

Khalid said Azhar, who was born in Sungai Besar, returned a few months ago to assume the role of Sungai Besar Amanah chief and he had managed to warm up to the people here.

He also said it was normal for those born and bred here to work outside Sungai Besar. “Maybe he is not as famous as the Sungai Besar Umno division chief but he does know the people here,” he said, taking a swipe at Jamal’s reputation.

Jamal is the leader of a coalition of Malay NGOs, who gained notoriety after organising the racially-tinged Red Shirts rally in Kuala Lumpur last year. He had also in the past been in the news for making allegedly disparaging remarks about the Chinese community.