ALOR STAR: Penang Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is the one on the defensive in the run-up to the Sungai Bakap by-election, said Perikatan Nasional election director Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.
He said the Sungai Bakap polls would prove that the PN wave was still expanding in Penang.
"We are confident of retaining Sungai Bakap. We used to have only one elected representative in Penang (prior to last year's state election), but now we have seven.
"I think they are the ones on the defensive. We will continue to march on," said Sanusi, who is also Kedah menteri besar, after chairing the state executive council meeting at Wisma Darulaman here today.
Sanusi said PN was the only hope for steering the country in the right direction.
"Just check out the people's views at the moment, can they pin their hope on PH?
"There are many issues in Penang and also at the national level. We will focus on the bigger political issues instead of harping on personal issues.
"We faced even more complicated challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, but we faced it and came out of the pandemic safely," he said.
Sanusi was responding to Amanah deputy president Senator Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa recent statement that PH's efforts to break PN's "green wave" would be boosted by a victory in the Sungai Bakap by-election in Penang.
The former Parit Buntar member of parliament had said he believed that PH's victory in the recent Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election would boost its chances of wresting Sungai Bakap from PN.
The Sungai Bakap by-election was triggered by the death of assemblyman Nor Zamri Latiff of Pas on May 24.
The Election Commission is scheduled to meet tomorrow to decide on the key dates for the Sungai Bakap by-election.
Before last year's Penang state election, PKR held the Sungai Bakap seat for three consecutive terms.