KAJANG, May 11 — The Bangi parliamentary constituency will prove to be a challenge for the DAP in the 15th general election (GE15), said secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook.
He said this was because of the high number of voters in the parliamentary constituency with almost 100,000 of the total being young voters aged between 18 and 21.
“The constituents here comprise a large number of youth and people of various races.
“So, the candidate who will be replacing incumbent Bangi MP (Dr Ong Kian Ming) will face a great challenge and the party must take this into consideration in the upcoming GE15,” he told a press conference here today which was also attended by Ong.
Loke said although Ong has announced that he would not contest in GE15, he (Ong) would continue to assist the party and spend some time to find a candidate suitable for the Bangi voter demographics.
“We will continue to get Ong’s assistance to ensure whoever the candidate, will be able to continue to have the support of the people and we need more time as the candidate will have to get accustomed to the area and meet the people even before parliament is dissolved.
“This was one of the factors which Ong had considered and he has announced his decision much earlier to give us more time to identify the right candidate for Bangi parliamentary constituency,” he said.
Earlier, Ong was reported to have said the decision not to contest was not made in haste but this had been discussed since last year and the move was to give way to young leaders.
