Thrilling Saturday

Sabah’s PKR votes are next best to Selangor’s in as far as numbers go. This Saturday, some 150,000 eligible voters there will begin to decide whether Datuk Seri Azmin Ali or Rafizi Ramli will be their deputy president. As controversy rages on over setbacks in the polls thus far, PKR leaders in Sabah and Sarawak want ballot boxes in place of e-voting, a proposal that has been flatly denied.

MyKad readers will be used to speed up e-voting in the Sabah leg of the PKR party elections staggered over the weekend with nearly 150,000 members expected to vote.

The state has the second highest number of members for PKR after Selangor, which incumbent deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali won by a narrow margin.

According to PKR state election coordinator Rosli Masaliku, the MyKad reading facility was included in the tabs in an effort to speed up the election process across the state.

He added that the move was being introduced in Sabah due to the delays in the voting process for the party elections in the peninsula.

“After observing the delays caused by keying in the MyKad numbers of members, we tried the card reader system and found it to be more efficient.

“We believe it will be faster as we have tested it,” Rosli said.

The first day of the Sabah PKR elections will be held in the 12 urban and semi-urban divisions on Saturday.

It will be followed on Sunday with elections for the remaining 13 divisions in the rural areas of the state.

Rosli said 74,000 members were registered in 12 divisions, while 76,000 were expected to vote in the remaining divisions.

He added that a full turnout was not expected.

Sabah PKR chairman Datuk Christina Liew, who is also a Deputy Chief Minister, said based on past experience, they expected at least half the registered members to turn up to vote.

“We hope that it will be smooth sailing,” she told reporters yesterday.

Liew, who is in a straight fight to defend her Kota Kinabalu division chief post, is among 21 division heads being challenged in Sabah.

Four have been returned unopposed.

Party leaders noted that there has been a surge in interest for positions within the party with the state government being led by Parti Warisan Sabah.

The Silam division in Lahad Datu will have the highest number of contests in the east coast of Sabah with seven vying for the division chief ’s post.

Six are in the race for the Tenom head’s post.

Sabah PKR won two state and two parliamentary seats in the May 9 general election.