NIBONG TEBAL: The Selangor Pakatan Harapan (PH) machinery which has been supporting the campaign for the Sungai Bakap by-election for the past week, is now focusing on engaging with former local leaders in the area.

Selangor PH chairman Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said that meeting with former local leaders who still had influence, such as former village heads and council members, would help the election machinery attract voter support for the Unity Government candidate.

“There has been positive movement (from this approach) so far, but it is still too early (to say definitively). There is still much work to be done.

“We are focusing on the networks we have at the state, Federal, and Unity Government (component party) levels to connect with the voters,” he told reporters after the ‘Ziarah Kasih Bersama Pemimpin Berpengaruh’ programme in Sungai Duri here today.

Amirudin believed that by using the Selangor PH machinery’s strategy, as done in the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election last May, a ‘clear signal’ would be seen two or three days before polling day.

Meanwhile, Amirudin, who is also the Menteri Besar of Selangor, said his state’s PH machinery was fully prepared, having been entrusted with overseeing the Puteri Gunung and Sungai Duri polling districts.

“The Selangor state team here is rotated regularly. The rotation involves no less than 300 machinery members.

“We are focusing on how we from the Unity Government, namely PH and Barisan Nasional (BN) can reach out to these voters so they can come out in full force on polling day,” he said.

The Sungai Bakap by-election on July 6 will see a straight contest between PH’s Dr Joohari Ariffin and Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Abidin Ismail. The by-election is being held following the death of the incumbent, Nor Zamri Latiff, on May 24, due to stomach inflammation.