The former Padang Besar Umno chief revealed that his admission into PKR was endorsed by party president Anwar Ibrahim.

Zahidi said his aim was to introduce a fresh approach to politics, particularly by increasing Malay support for PKR in Perlis.

“PKR-Pakatan Harapan (PH) already enjoys 90% of the Chinese vote, but the Malay vote remains uncertain.

“Currently, PKR has about 60 branches in Perlis.

“We are working to increase that number to 400, aiming to boost public support and secure victory in this state,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Padang Besar, reported Utusan Malaysia.

He also criticised the lack of progress Perlis faced under Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) administration, particularly in generating state revenue.

In the 15th general election (GE15), Zahidi was dropped as a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Padang Besar parliamentary seat. He had held the seat for two terms previously.

He contested as an independent, resulting in the automatic termination of his Umno membership. However, he was defeated in both the Padang Besar seat and the Titi Tinggi state seat.

BN instead fielded Zahida Zarik Khan for the Padang Besar seat, but PN candidate Rushdan Rusmi won the seat with a 12,514-vote majority.

Zahidi previously served as deputy communications and multimedia minister from 2021 to 2022.