Ousted Perak Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin will be the PAS candidate for the Bukit Gantang by-election on April 7.

The announcement was made at about 11pm by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang during a ceramah in Padang Kota, Taiping.

nizar jamaluddin biodata 240309 Several thousands of PAS supporters had gathered to find out the party's candidate for the by-election.

In naming Nizar as the candidate, the opposition is turning the Bukit Gantang by-election into a referendum on the messy takeover of the Perak state government by Barisan Nasional last month.

Nizar, a mechanical engineer, is also the Pasir Panjang state representative. He turned 52 last week.

He will be facing Barisan Nasional's Ismail Saffian, 49, the former Bukit Gantang Umno information chief. Nomination day is on March 29.

The parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of PAS MP Roslan Shaharum on Feb 9.

PAS has picked Nizar from a shortlist of four candidates.

The party is confident of retaining the seat, especially with the ongoing political impasse in the state following the BN takeover.

Nizar was made the Pakatan Rakyat menteri besar after the opposition coalition took over the state in the last general election in March last year.

However his hold on the power lasted less than a year as defections of three Pakatan reps to become BN-friendly independents caused the Pakatan coalition to be swept out of office.

Letting the people decide

Following the defections, the Perak sultan had granted the state BN the right to form the new state government, which they did on Feb 5.

bukit gantang parliamentary seat 090209 Nizar however is adamant that he had not been legally dismissed through a vote of no confidence in the state assembly and is maintaining that he is still the menteri besar.

He and other Pakatan leaders have continuously urged the sultan to dissolve the state assembly so that the people can decide on who they want to be their political masters.

The sultan however is not moved by these calls and the BN is adamant to administer the state despite the uncertainties.

Many political commentators have said that the Bukit Gantang by-election will serve as a referendum for the voters to decide if they back Nizar's Pakatan state government or the new BN rule.

"The battle for democracy in Perak and Malaysia is now full joined with Nizar the official standard bearer for Pakatan Rakyat in the by election," said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in an immediate reaction.