Langkawi candidate Dr Mahathir says GE15 should be his ‘last’ GE; GTA no PM candidate yet
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — Nonagenarian Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said his contesting of the Langkawi seat in Kedah in the 15th general elections (GE15) should be his last time contesting a general election.
Dr Mahathir, now aged 97, reportedly explained that he had not wanted to participate in GE15 but decided to be a candidate to complete the “unfinished job” which was disrupted when he was not able to complete a full term as prime minister.
“It should be my last. I did not want to contest this time, but they want to have the election early and I did not finish my term when I was made prime minister,” he was quoted as saying by national daily New Straits Times (NST).
According to the NST, Dr Mahathir said he had lost his prime minister role after backdoor moves brought down the then Pakatan Harapan administration that he was heading and that he wants to complete the job.
As for the Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) pact which comprises of his party Parti Pejuang Tanah Air and other parties and organisations, Dr Mahathir said it has yet to name its candidate for prime minister, stating: “Our view is that if we have sufficient numbers and we can form the government, only then we will decide who will be prime minister.”
Dr Mahathir reportedly said GTA was open to working together with parties that have a common stand on what they should do for Malaysia, but with the condition that such parties must be clean and not have “crooks and jailbirds” as its leaders.
For GE15, Dr Mahathir, who is the incumbent for Langkawi, will be going up against four candidates — independent candidate Datuk Abdul Kadir Sainudin, Perikatan Nasional candidate Datuk Suhaimi Abdullah, Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Armishah Siraj, and Pakatan Harapan’s Zabidi Yahya.
Previously in the 14th general election in 2018, Dr Mahathir had won the Langkawi seat with 18,954 votes, which represents an 8,893 vote-majority over BN’s Datuk Nawawi Ahmad who garnered 10,061 votes. The remaining candidate Zubir Ahmad for PAS garnered 5,512 votes.
