Imported candidates give negative effect to voters

JASIN: The decision of the opposition party to nominate a non-local who is not familiar with voters in a certain constituency as a candidate could give negative impact to the voters, says, Malacca Umno Liaison Committee deputy chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah (pix).
He said it is the hope of voters in a certain area that the elected representative is always in the area to assist them, and this would be a problem if the candidate is not a resident there.
The Jasin MP said what made matters worse was that outsider candidates did not understand current issues in the area and did know not what is needed to develop the area involved.
"This unhealthy practice (import candidate) may give negative impact to voters when they wanted to settle a problem or lodge a complaint when the representative is always not around.
"However, I am confident and believe voters now are more mature and would prefer locals as the candidate to look after them throughout the period when given the mandate," he told Bernama.
Ahmad was commenting on the confirmation that Citizens Declaration movement coordinator, Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan from Penang of Amanah would be standing in the Jasin parliamentary seat in the 14th general election (GE14).
In the 13th general election, Ahmad beat PKR candidate, Rahmat Yusof with a majority of 11,763 votes.
"BN will focus on serving the people so we are confident of garnering the support of voters as well as the capability of BN machinery to defend the Jasin parliamentary seat in GE14," he added. — Bernama