After receiving a thrashing in the last general elections, Islamic opposition party PAS is confident of regaining lost ground this time around.

The party hopes to capitalise on what it perceives as a 'decline' in social and economic issues under the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

On the same note, the party aspires to win the support of urban voters with its moderate stand on a variety of social issues.

PAS strategist Dr Dzukifli Ahmad told malaysiakini yesterday that the party is gunning for a repeat of its 1999 electoral success.

In that election, PAS won a record 27 parliamentary seats and retained its hold in Kelantan with a smashing victory by taking 41 of the 43 seats. It also seized control of neighbouring Terengganu.

However, in the 2004 general election, the first under Abdullah, PAS was humbled.

It lost 20 of the 27 parliamentary seats. Its hold in Kelantan was subsequently reduced to a single seat majority while Barisan Nasional (BN) reclaimed Terengganu.

"We want to do better than the last general election of 2004," said Dzukifli.

"We had a good postmortem after the election and together with our constant polls and surveys, we want to put it to good use. We may even repeat our 1999 performance if not surpass it," he added.

PAS has always accused its rivals of election fraud and Dzukifli also acknowledged this.

"Barring any bizarre manipulation of the electoral system, we should maintain Kelantan and will strive our best to increase our stake in Terengganu. God willing, we may even wrest it back.," he said.

Moderate line-up

In last week's party elections held in Kota Baru, Kelantan, PAS delegates opted for a moderate line-up to draw more support outside of its rural power base.

Commenting on this, Dzukifli said PAS is to "mainstream" itself in the political centre stage, while maintaining its influence in the Malay belt Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis.

"Whatever you call it, I don't really subscribe to the term moderates or otherwise, this mandate is an endorsement of the agenda upheld not only by the so-called moderates but actually envisioned and initiated by the late president, Fadzil Noor.

"We will first secure all seats and states that are traditionally ours in the Malay belt, Kelantan for example. We will work our level best to increase out stake in these various states," he said.

According to the party strategist, the real battle will be for the mixed-seats constituencies where voters are generally more urban.

He said the party is interested in urban seats in Selangor, Pahang and Perak.

"PAS and our coalition partner PKR must package our electoral offers and political messages more solidly this time, given the range of issues that depict the failures of the Umno or BN government.

"Issues abound. We must customise and package all these to fit into the various segments of voters and their constituencies, both urban and rural," he added.

Among others, the opposition party is expected to highlight the increase in crime rate, corruption, the alleged mismanagement of the economy, racial divide, unemployment and many others.

Meanwhile, Dzukifli also stressed that the moderate stand adopted by PAS was not a result of the influence from PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim.

"Even without Anwar, we have placed the party in centre-stage politics by addressing national issues in the broader sense of the National Agenda, not just Malay Agenda, from an Islamic perspective.

"This was achieved quite distinctively by our late president during the reformasi era when Anwar wasn't around in prison. Perhaps with him around now ... as a free man, it's all the better," he said.