JOHOR BARU: Candidates in the Johor state polls will have to fight hard as voters are spoilt for choice due to the record number of parties and candidates, says Barisan Nasional’s Johor Jaya candidate Chan San San.

       “Johor Jaya is no different – I am in a four-cornered fight. Gone are the days where people vote for the same party over and over again.

       “If they find me suitable as their elected representative, I will continue to do my best – just as I have been doing for the past 12 years in this area,” she said after visiting the Seri Alam district polling station at Flat Tasek 64 in Bandar Seri Alam here yesterday.

       Asked about her thoughts on going up against incumbent Johor Jaya assemblyman Liow Cai Tung from DAP, Chan replied: “It is a challenge, of course, as she is a two-term assemblyman for this seat and was a state executive councillor previously.”The 42-year-old first-time candidate believes the standard operating procedure for the state polls is a challenge but is taking it in her stride.“It is quite different compared with the 14th General Election, but this is what campaigning is like in the new normal and I am going with the flow,” she said.

       “Despite having to keep my walkabouts and house-to-house visits short, I make up for it by reaching out to the voters via social media.”

       Earlier, she had a walkabout in the Jalan Bakawali area in Taman Johor Jaya before making a stop at the Pasir Gudang City Council’s foundation programme at the flats, where about 50 less privileged recipients received food baskets.

       Chan stressed that she did not hand out any aid and the foundation had already distributed all the items by the time she arrived.

       “I only dropped by to say hello to the recipients while on my way to the Seri Alam district polling station at the next block to meet volunteers,” she added.

       Chan is up against incumbent Liow, Warisan’s Victor Chen Hain Kai and Perikatan Nasional’s Dr Ker Ching Cheng.

       In GE14, Johor Jaya saw a three-way fight where DAP’s Liow won against MCA’s Tan Cher Puk and the late R. Kumutha from PAS.