Sanusi, who is also the Kedah menteri besar, said all eligible members are welcome to contest the posts.

“The president and deputy president’s posts are open for contest.

“However, no one offered themselves for the challenge in past party elections,” he told a press conference after an event in Alor Setar, Kedah, reported Sinar Harian.

Sanusi said PAS has never set any ruling to prevent its top positions from being contested.

“We have no such restrictions, nor any directive barring contests for the top positions. There has never been such an order,” he said.

Last week, FMT quoted political analyst Syaza Shukri as saying that PAS should allow a contest for the deputy president’s position in its coming elections as a step towards grooming a candidate for the prime minister’s post.

Syaza, of International Islamic University Malaysia, said the deputy presidency should be the focus of PAS’s elections this year, given that a contest for the president’s post – held by Abdul Hadi Awang since 2002 – seemed out of the question.

She said the deputy president was naturally seen as next in line for the presidency, and that whoever held the position could become Perikatan Nasional’s prime ministerial candidate in the next general election.

The PAS president’s post was last contested during the 2015 muktamar, when Hadi defeated Ahmad Awang, now of Amanah, to defend the post.

That same year, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was elected as party deputy president, beating then incumbent Mohamad Sabu, who is now the Amanah president.

PAS elections are held every two years. At the last party polls, there were no contest for the top five posts, with the vice-presidencies won unopposed by Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, Idris Ahmad and Amar Abdullah in 2023.