Anwar’s men defeated in new party polls — latest setback for Malaysian opposition leader

Since the lockdowns and the fall of the Pakatan Harapan regime, Anwar Ibrahim’s popularity has plummeted, and his party, Keadilan Rakyat, has suffered the same fate. Ministers and MPs deserted the Keadilan in March 2020 to support a back-door government led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the party’s biggest split in years.

Following this, the party lost the majority of the seats it ran for in by-elections, the most recent of which being its terrible showing in the Johor state elections last year. The PKR central election committee announced the unofficial results of the party polls last night. The results for all states and federal territories, except Sarawak, have been announced.

According to unconfirmed results given by the Keadilan’s central election committee, Rafizi Ramli has defeated his challenger Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in the contest for the post of deputy leader.

Except for Sarawak, the results for all states and federal territories have been announced as of 8.30 p.m. and it shows Rafizi with a massive lead against Saifuddin. Rafizi won the remaining states, including the very much prized Selangor, while Saifuddin won Perlis and Sabah.

The results also show the Selangor MB Aminuddin Shari leading as Naib President with Chang Ling Kang second and Nik Nazmi third. The fourth place seems to be for Aminudin Harun.

In the vice-presidential race, of which four elected positions are available, the projected winners are Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin (52,304 votes), Tanjung Malim MP Chang (40,280 votes), Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi (39,572 votes), and Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Aminuddin Harun (38,114 votes).

To mitigate the impact against Anwar, party players are now saying the big win by Rafizi Ramli, a popular figure on the local scene will be a great thing for the party.

Nik Nazmi, who is an MP in Parliament, says Anwar and Rafizi would be the best ticket for PKR to face the 15th general election (GE15).

The shattered party is attempting to rebuild itself, and many followers are hoping that Rafizi will be given the opportunity to rethink the party’s strategy.

The defeated candidate for the deputy leader post, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, is said to be close to Anwar and is in favour of a ‘big tent’ for the opposition to accommodate the party of ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin, Bersatu.

Some MPs of the Bersatu are those who left Anwar’s party in March 2020 thus preventing the latter from gaining the post of Prime Minister after Tun Dr Mahathir resigned in February 2020.

Most of the new party leaders are against the ‘big tent’ and Anwar is now forced to work with a deputy leader who is not in favour of the ‘big tent’.

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