KUALA LUMPUR: Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa (pix) says Barisan Nasional (BN) will likely announce its candidate for the Tanjung Piai by-election by the end of the month.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, he said the BN component parties including Umno suggested several candidates and the names were given to Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi two days ago.
“We hope to announce the candidate a week before nomination day,” Annuar said today.
“We (BN component parties) had a discussion recently and we found that BN has two views on the matter.
“Firstly, some quarters in Umno want to field their candidate since MCA lost in the 14th General Election in the constituency. On the other hand, MCA feels that it should contest in the polls because it lost by a small margin and should be given second chance.
“That will be decided by the BN presidential council in a meeting. It’s just that for management purposes, it will be announced on Oct 26 or 27.”
Annuar added that BN might also wait for Pakatan Harapan to announce its candidate for the seat before revealing its choice.
The Tanjung Piai seat fell vacant following the death of its incumbent, PPBM’s Md Farid Md Rafik who died of heart failure at Pontian Hospital on Sept 21. The by-election will be held on Nov 16.
Meanwhile, on Budget 2020 Annuar said BN will not be tabling an alternative budget for 2020 and will use the one tabled last year.
He said the decision was made because the alternative budget only had “figures and not policies”.
“We are not the government, only the opposition. Our alternative budget from last year can still be used this year.
“The government will have to table a budget annually as there are real expenses and policies to be implemented. For the opposition, we have only proposals,” he said.
