Rizal, the Alor Melintang polling district chief who also spoke for the other 14 polling district chiefs, said they had left the party over disappointment with the nomination of Kedah Amanah deputy chairman Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi as Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for the seat in the May 9 election.

He added that the ex-PPBM members had decided to join Umno immediately.

“We feel we have been betrayed after working hard to set up the party machinery and garnering sympathy for PH, and then being denied the opportunity to have a PPBM candidate named for the seat.

“The seat was handed to an Amanah candidate who is clearly an unknown and failed to serve the constituents of Alor Mengkudu,” he told reporters at an event last night.

At a talk in Hutan Kampung yesterday, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu had announced the names of 13 candidates for the three parliamentary and 10 state seats the party would contest in Kedah. The names included that of Phahrolrazi.

Rizal said the tactic was clearly a political ploy because the allocation of seats had been agreed on by PH component parties.

He said the party machinery at the 15 polling districts would be dissolved and all ex-members would support Kedah Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah, who is also Kedah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.

“We also pledge to campaign for the victory of the BN candidate in Alor Mengkudu. This will serve as a lesson for the PH leadership not to practise the politics of self-interest and neglect the promise made,” he said.

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