“I wish to thank Kedah PAS for not nominating me as a candidate,” he told FMT.
“Even if they had, I would not accept the nomination as I would be seen to be betraying the people. I would reject the nomination,” he said.
He said he did not want to help the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), whose leading party Umno is now having a good relationship with PAS.
Mahfuz was coy about whether he would be joining Amanah, the splinter party dominated by former PAS members, saying only that it was “another issue for another day”.
He was commenting on Kedah PAS deputy commissioner Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s statement yesterday that he was being excluded from the party’s candidates list for the polls which are due by August next year.
Sanusi had told a press conference that Mahfuz could seek other platforms, and that PAS would nominate another candidate from the party.
Mahfuz was one of four PAS leaders who had raised eyebrows when they attended Amanah’s national convention in Alor Setar yesterday.
The others were Anak Bukit assemblyman Amiruddin Hamzah, Kubang Rotan assemblyman Mohd Nasir Mustafa and Batu Burok assemblyman Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi.
Mahfuz had told reporters there that one did not need to have to leave his party to show support for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition of which Amanah is a component.
He said he had received an invitation from Amanah, and as its leaders were old friends he felt that it was right to accept the invite.
He first won the Pokok Sena seat in the 1999 general election, but failed to defend it against an Umno candidate in the polls in 2004. He however recaptured the seat in 2008, and retained it in the last election in 2013.