“PKR will instruct the party’s election machinery to go down to the ground and help PPBM and Pakatan Harapan retain the seat,” the party’s communications director Fahmi Fadzil said in a statement issued after the PKR central leadership council meeting this evening.
The parliamentary seat fell vacant on the death of the MP, Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, last weekend.
Farid, who was vice-chairman of PPBM in Tanjung Piai, won the seat in the 2018 general election by defeating Wee Jeck Seng of MCA with a majority of 524 votes.
While the ruling coalition has yet to decide who will be fielded, Johor PPBM is hoping that a local candidate would be chosen to contest.
Yesterday, newly-formed Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (or Putra) said it would contest should both the opposition bloc and Pakatan Harapan field a non-Malay candidate.
The parliamentary seat was traditionally a battleground for MCA and DAP, but in the last general election, DAP made way for PPBM. Tanjung Piai, once an MCA stronghold, is a mixed-seat constituency with 57% Malay, 42% Chinese and 1% Indian voters.