State Umno deputy chief Nik Dir Nik Wan Ku said the party is aware that wresting the parliamentary seat from PAS would be an uphill task as the Islamic party had won the seat in the last general election (GE15) with a majority of over 27,000.

“While we do want to win the by-election, we feel that reducing (PAS’s) majority would be satisfactory.

“Although winning is not impossible with the right strategy,” he told FMT.

Nik Dir also said it was “somewhat certain” that former Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Said will not stand again in the polls.

“In the meeting last week, he (Ahmad) said the party will field a fresh face, which basically means he won’t be contesting.

“Ahmad will focus on his role as the election director.”

In GE15 last November, Ahmad could only muster 38,535 votes against PAS’s Che Alias Hamid, who obtained 65,714 votes, in a four-cornered contest.

However, the Kuala Terengganu election court annulled the win last month after finding that the payment of i-Belia and i-Siswa aid to voters during the campaign period constituted bribery.

PAS has yet to decide on a candidate, but said there were many suggestions being put forward, including Che Alias, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Umno leader Annuar Musa.

While PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has quashed rumours of Mahathir’s potential candidacy, the party’s deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man had previously said “God willing, the candidate will be from PAS”.

The Kemaman parliamentary by-election is set for Dec 2, with early voting to take place on Nov 28, while nomination day is set for Nov 18.