Former Seremban PKR deputy chief Rafie will contest as an independent candidate to defend his seat in Saturday’s state polls after he was dropped by the party for the upcoming state elections.

At a ceramah last night, Anwar, who is also the Pakatan Harapan chairman and PKR president, said seats like Ampangan and Hulu Kelang in Selangor were crucial battlefields for the coalition as they would serve as places to teach a lesson to the “traitors”.

At a press conference in Seremban 2 today, Rafie, who has been expelled from PKR after deciding to contest as an independent, said it was unfair for people to simply be labelled as traitors.

“I would like to advise Anwar to respect the country’s democratic process which allows me to contest elections,” he said.

“He (Anwar) indirectly wants to sever our relationship with that statement,” he said, adding that he sent Anwar a WhatsApp message earlier this morning.

“It’s quite unfortunate that parties use the term ‘traitor’ so easily nowadays.”

Rafie went on to suggest that all parties should leave it to the voters in Ampangan to judge him.

“I will accept the outcome whether I win or lose if this election process is conducted fairly,” he said.

The Ampangan state seat will see a three-cornered fight between Rafie, PH candidate Tengku Zamrah Tengku Sulaiman, and Perikatan Nasional’s Ghazali Zainal Abidin.

Rafie won the seat at the 2018 general election with a 1,360-vote majority.