PKR Sarawak roots for Azmin as deputy president
KUCHING: Most of the more than 54,000 registered members of Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) Sarawak will be rooting for Minister of Economic Affairs Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali to be elected the party’s national deputy president.
Azmin, who is also former Selangor Menteri Besar, is expected to win the PKR deputy-president post over the current vice-president and former secretary-general Mohd Rafizi Ramli, if PKR Sarawak stalwart Baharrudin Mokhsen’s prediction has anything to go by.
Baharrudin said he is confident that the majority of Sabah PKR members would vote for Azmin.
Sabah, which has more than 145,000 PKR members eligible to vote, will hold its party election on Nov 3 and 4, involving 25 divisions; while Sarawak, with about 54,000 members eligible to hold its election on Nov 10, involving 29 divisions.
The comment by Baharrudin, who is PKR Petra Jaya chairman, is supported by Sarawak PKR Youth information chief Saifunnizam Sam and one of PKR Sibu division chairmen Abdul Rafidin Majidi, PKR Petra Jaya treasurer Nurhanim Hanna Mohksen, and PKR Julau division chairman candidate Semana Sawang.
The rest of PKR Sarawak leaders, when contacted, declined to comment or kept mum for the sake of diplomacy.
When contacted yesterday, Baharrudin said: “If it’s left to Sarawak only, most of the votes will go to Azmin. It has always been Azmin. But the situation now is different with ‘the Sngs’ coming into the picture and that they and their supporters would be rooting for Rafizi.”
He was referring to the PKR’s ‘new kid on the block’, Julau MP Larry Sng who was recently involved in the controversy over PKR Julau division’s surge of membership, from 603 to more than 13,000 members, in a single day in June.
With Sabah and Sarawak being the remaining states yet to hold their elections, the votes will determine whether Azmin or Rafizi gets to be PKR’s deputy president.
With all 12 states (except Kuala Selangor which has been rescheduled) having completed their polls, Azmin was ahead with 46,759 votes over Rafizi’s 45,112 votes. This was indicated by the unofficial results posted on the website https://www.pemilihankeadilan2018.com. The results, however, did not include the votes in Melaka and Negeri Sembilan, which have yet to be posted on the website.
Rafizi is the new PKR Pandan divisional head after defeating his three challengers – Haniza Mohd Talha, Nor Hayati Haron and Mohamad Shauki Mohd Hashim – in the third phase of the election in Selangor.
However Rafizi, , who is former Pandan MP, failed to get the majority votes from members in the division for the post of deputy president when only 508 members voted for him, while Azmin obtained 715 votes.
According to PKR information chief Vernon Kedit, the party is using the ‘one member, one vote’ principle and the e-voting process for the election of office-bearers at the national-level.
He said 12 individuals would vie for the four vice-president posts of the PKR national supreme council, and 88 for the 20 PKR national supreme council member posts.
Among the 88 candidates vying for 20 PKR national supreme council member posts are Larry, Saratok MP Ali Biju, Puncak Borneo MP Willie Mongin and PKR Women national vice chairman Voon Shiak Ni.
PKR has over 800,000 registered members nationwide.