KELANTAN Umno said unity government leaders who wish to campaign in the Nenggiri by-election must be vetted for approval by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub.

Tengku Razaleigh, also known as Ku Li, is the Gua Musang Umno chief and has been appointed Umno’s director for the Aug 17 election, while Jazlan will act as the operations director.

Kelantan Umno information chief Zawawi Othman said this vetting process applied to all top leaders from PKR, DAP and Barisan Nasional (BN) to ensure speeches during the campaign do not jeopardise the chances of reclaiming the seat.

In the Nenggiri campaign, any unity government leader can come to help BN win, but they must be vetted by Ku Li and Jazlan, Zawawi told FMT.

“When speaking at a campaign, we need to know the planning, the topic, the target audience and the manner of speaking. or example, with the Orang Asli, there is a different approach compared with Malay and Chinese voters,” hesaid.

The by-election was called after Kelantan assembly speaker Amar Abdullah declared the seat vacant on June 19 after he was informed that incumbent Azizi Abu Naim was no longer a Bersatu member.

According to Bersatu, Azizi’s membership was terminated after he failed to declare his loyalty to the party and showed support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Azizi, the Gua Musang MP, was elected to the state assembly to represent Nenggiri last August, after defeating Umno’s Ab Aziz Yusoff of Umno in a straight fight by a slim majority of 810 votes.

It is understood that Gua Musang Umno has only submitted the name of its youth chief, Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani, for nomination as the candidate.

Meanwhile, Kelantan Bersatu is confident that its candidate, who has been confirmed to contest under the PAS logo, will achieve a comfortable majority victory in the poll next month.

The party’s state leader, Kamaruddin Nor, said there are no conflicts between the two component partners in Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Previously, the parties wanted to field their own candidates, before PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man confirmed that the seat would be contested by Bersatu.

“Nenggiri was won by Bersatu and the Bersatu candidate will defend it. This has been agreed upon, there’s no issue of conflict.”

The Election Commission has set nomination for Aug 3 and early voting on Aug 13.