PETALING JAYA (May 3): The outcome of the PKR polls in Sabah holds the key to the political fate of incumbent deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Despite the fact that Azmin has a strong lead on his opponents – secretary general Saifuddin Nasution and Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim – who are trailing far behind after the first round of the party elections, he cannot sit back and relax just yet.
As of April 27, the poll results show that Azmin has won 5,111 votes, following by Saifuddin who garnered 2,322 and Abdul Khalid 2,228.
Two of the biggest vote banks of the party, Sabah and Selangor, have yet to go to poll, so the number of votes Azmin manages to garner in Sabah would determine his chances of retaining his post.
While the existing election system benefits popular and resourceful leaders, power play between central leaders and local leaders also emerged in this party poll.
For instance, it is understand that Saifuddin did not gain big in Sarawak because he is seen as focused on Kuala Lumpur matters and seldom champions issues concerning the people of Sarawak within the party as compared to Azmin.
Speaking to fz.com, Tan Seng Keat, research manager of Merdeka Center said that in Sabah, the polls battle lies between the supporters former state leader Thamrin Ghafar and newly joined state leader Lajim Ukin, the Beaufort MP who quit Umno to join PKR.
Tan pointed out that the as the party practices a direct election system, a contestant who can lobby more people to go to vote would be the winner.
In the case of Sabah, as many of the polling stations are located in urban areas, those who can bring members from inland areas to vote would stand a good chance to win, he added.
Tan, who has observed Sabah politics for years, opined that Lajim has an advantage in this context as he has a strong and extensive local network, and he is not with Azmin.
He also pointed out that Thamrin, who is aligned with Azmin, is seen as not “grassroots” enough. “If they were able to lobby strong grassroots support in Sabah, PKR wouldn’t have had to wait until after Lajim joined to have a breakthrough.”
PKR finally broke its curse of being unable to win a single seat in Sabah by winning six state seats and a parliamentary seat in the 2013 general election. Lajim and former deputy Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing joined PKR in August 2012.
However, it is not clear if Lajim will lend his full support to Abdul Khalid although it is rumoured that they are on the same boat. Alternatively, he may throw his support to Saifuddin at the last minute as the latter is believed to have the blessings of the party de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Dr Arnold Puyok, who teaches political science at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) said that from the feedback that he has obtained from the rural grassroots, Azmin is leading in Sabah as well.
“His closest challenger I think is Saifuddin whose support is getting stronger in Sabah as he is likeable and considered as a 'new' figure,” he told fz.com in emailed comments.
As Nurul Izzah Anwar, Rafizi Ramli, Tian Chua and Baru Bian are the four leading in the vice presidents’ race, Arnold believed that this will augur well for PKR as they are seen as competent and progressive leaders.
The Saifuddin team, coupled with Nurul Izzah and Rafizi, is seen as representing the aspirations of the young in the party.
Arnold also noted that the rift between Azmin and Khalid is not good for PKR.
“PKR must not depend on Anwar's charisma to win support. It's time for the party to be led by new figures,” he said.
He opined that the upcoming new leadership had “better get their act together because people's expectations of PKR are high.”
Meanwhile in Selangor, which is the party’s biggest vote bank, Tan held that state chairman Azmin and MB Abdul Khalid have the advantage, but Saifuddin could be the dark horse in Selangor as well as in the deputy president’s race.
“It would depend on whether Azmin gains or loses in Sabah, and in the worst case scenario, whether he would get enough votes to offset his loss in Sabah,” Tan said.
However, following the incident in the Batang Sadong division poll on last Saturday, the integrity of the poll process is seen as severely undermined.
It was reported that a power outage occurred during the vote counting process for the votes of the division.
The alleged election irregularity would definitely have impact on the birth of the new leadership, and spark doubts as to whether the elected leaders really have the support of the grassroots in the party.
Source: FZ
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