Umno confident of wresting back Permatang Pauh: Abdul Azeez

PERMATANG PAUH: Umno is confident the coming 14th General Elections will finally be the time the party can wrest back the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat.
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim expressed his confidence the coming national polls will be the time PKR finally tastes defeat after holding the seat since the late 1990s.
He said Umno was targeting to win the seat by a more than 5,000 vote majority and urged the division leadership to enhance voter registration efforts.
"From my calculations and predictions, there is a 67% possibility that Umno can win the seat," he said in his speech when opening the Umno Permatang Pauh division delegates meeting here today.
The storied constituency was once an Umno stronghold held by former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim until his removal from the Cabinet in the late 1990s.
His removal sparked the formation of PKR which has successfully defended the seat in every election since.
The current incumbent is PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who is the wife of Anwar currently in prison for a sodomy charge.
She won the seat in the 2013 elections with a 11,721 majority after defeating Mazlan Ismail of BN and independent candidate Abdullah Zawawi Samsuddin.
Abdul Azeez also stressed on the importance of unity for Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) which would be key to retain federal power.
He said those in the BN must stick together to not only win but to secure a two-thirds majority in Parliament which the coalition lost since 2008.
"We can win, but to win we must be united," he said
Speaking to the media later, division chairman Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said said his division was more confident of victory compared to the previous elections.
He said voters were closer to the party as Umno had organised hundreds of programs during the current term to benefit the people.
"The trend on social media has shown many who are giving us positive comments for our programs to help the needy," he added.