Attack by political opponents during final sprint does not affect support - Ahmad Amzad

KUALA TERENGGANU - Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seat candidate, Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim, has described a series of last-minute attacks against him and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) during the campaign's final stretch on Friday would not affect the party's support.

With the rapid pace of technology and the various sources of information available, Ahmad Amzad said people are becoming smarter in evaluating information and are not easily swayed by propaganda from opposing parties.

"The people have gone through a period of maturity in evaluating the information disseminated, whether through social media and the like, mainly since more than 44 to 45 per cent consist of young people who are well aware about this information.

"As long as we present something genuine, not wrong, and does not deviate from the facts, I believe there's no problem.

"But for me, if there's an issue, we should show a mature attitude in being prepared and open to accepting criticism," he said after casting his vote at Sekolah Kebangsaan Durian Burung on Saturday.

In the 15th General Election (GE15), Ahmad Amzad, also the former Science, Technology, and Innovation Deputy Minister, defended the Terengganu Parliamentary seat that he won in GE14 with a majority of 40,907 votes.

He obtained 63,016 votes, defeating his three other challengers, Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad from Pakatan Harapan (PH), who garnered 10,946 votes; Datuk Mohd Zubir Embong from Barisan Nasional (BN) with 22,109 votes, and Pejuang candidate, Mohamad Abu Bakar Muda (481 votes).

But on June 27, the Terengganu Election Court annulled Ahmad Amzad's victory after finding corruption elements during the Parliament's election campaign period.

The decision was made after Umno Terengganu filed a petition to annul the GE15 results for the High Court's parliamentary constituency here, per the Election Offences Act 1954, on Jan 3.

However, the court did not ban his participation in the election.