6 corner fight for PAS vice presidency?
Speculations are rife that there may be 6 possible candidates vying for the vice presidency seats during party polls in November
K Pragalath, FMT
Three new personalities within PAS have been speculated to be making bids for the vice presidents’ posts. However the trio are not known to have made a pact to unseat the incumbents.
The current vice presidents are Salahuddin Ayub, Husam Musa and Mahfuz Omar. Of the three, Salahuddin lost both the Pulai parliamentary and Nusajaya state seats in Johor during the 13th general election.
In an interview with FMT Salahuddin said that he would only defend his post if he received 70% support from the delegates.
Husam lost his bid to wrestle Putrajaya but increased his majority in his state constituency, Salor in Kelantan. He however was dropped from the exco line-up.
Only Mahfuz has maintained his political career in the national level. He is Pokok Sena MP and also the Kedah PAS commissioner currently; following the death of former commissioner and ex – Menteri Besar, Azizan Abdul Razak.
Salahuddin, Mahfuz and Husam are all aligned to the non-ulama faction.
One of the three newcomers is Bukit Gantang MP Idris Ahmad who is also a current PAS central committee member. Within PAS, he comes from the ulama faction and has a double degree in Islamic Studies.
Another PAS leader who is tipped to bid for the vice presidency is a lesser known figure outside the party – Abu Bakar Chik. He is currently a PAS central committee member and the party’s education bureau chief.
There are speculations that Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Yusof Rawa would also be vying for the post. However he is not seen as campaigning hard for it now.
