Has the completion of recent elections left you feeling hollow? Wonder where you’re going to get your next political fix?
Want to feel the thrill of campaigning but want something closer to home, and nothing as esoteric as the battle for the Romanian presidential election?
Good news: The fight for the position of Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR) Deputy President is reaching a boiling point, and party members will take to the polls on May 23 to determine who their next deputy president will be.
Run that by me again
You may be wondering why you should know about this election.
The TL;DR is that Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim hails from the PKR and will continue to hold the party’s presidency, having been re-elected uncontested.
The PKR is the lynchpin party of the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition, which partners with the Barisan Nasional coalition to form the government of Malaysia.
While it is not the largest party in either of these groupings, (that is the Democratic Action Party, another key PH member) it is widely considered to be the glue that holds the coalition together.
So, while PM Anwar was re-elected uncontested, he is term-limited.
According to the party constitution, this upcoming term will be his last, although he remains the chairman of the PH coalition.
So, the contest for deputy president has become a question of succession for the party and, to a certain extent, for Anwar himself.
The two towers
The election for deputy president is a straight fight between two of Anwar’s closest advisers.
On the one hand, is the incumbent deputy president and economic minister, Rafizi Ramli, and on the other is his eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Both are established party activists and politicians in their own right and experienced political activists.
Rafizi has won the election twice and is in the midst of his second term, although he sat out the 2018 general election.
Nurul Izzah, on the other hand, has won elections thrice before but lost her Permatang Puah seat on Penang’s mainland during 2022.
The contest between the two has been portrayed as a contest for the party's future, with the pair offering stark contrasts.
Free Malaysia Today illustrates this by noting that Rafizi dubbed his campaign “hiruk,” which is meant to evoke a “fighting spirit” but literally translates to “noise.”
Nurul Izzah, on the other hand, has chosen to name her campaign “Damai,” which FMT translates as “peace or reconciliation.”
Damai
Nurul Izzah’s bid has been followed by accusations of nepotism, given her relationship with Anwar.
But as the The Star reported earlier in May, Nurul Izzah is aware of the accusations and somewhat resigned to them, having encountered such allegations on numerous occasions.
In 2023, she stepped away from politics after Anwar faced fierce criticism for appointing her as an adviser.
She is currently a vice president within the party, but holds an appointed position rather than an elected one.
The Vibes quotes her as dismissing nepotism allegations, saying that while she is close to and respectful of her father, she maintains her own political stances.
FMT says that Nurul Izzah’s campaign has sought to unify PKR’s grassroots, and her appeal to party loyalists and internal leaders has seen her win pledges of support from almost all party divisions.
Hiruk
Rafizi’s campaign has been more firebrand, focusing on continuing the party’s promise of governmental reform, of “Reformasi”.
He has notably provoked confrontations with various party leaders and raised issues with discipline and accountability within PKR.
While his style has been criticised as “harsh and brash,” FMT says that many party supporters also consider it “genuine and necessary.”
But he has cast a pessimistic light on his campaign, with The Star reporting that he believes he has sufficient support to win but that a flawed party electoral process would result in an almost certain loss.
Should he lose, it might result in a minor political crisis for Anwar, as Rafizi has pledged to resign from the cabinet.
Thereupon, he said he would be free to speak more frankly and critically about government decisions.
GE16
Candidates and party leaders, including PKR’s Youth Chief, have signalled that the election is the start of preparations for the next General Election, due in 2028.
Voting is already underway for other party positions, and the election for deputy president will be held on May 23.
The Malay Mail reports that PKR’s secretary-general, Fuziah Salleh, expects over 30,000 delegates to vote in the elections, with 9,000 voting in person at the party congress being held in Johor.
The remaining 21,000 will vote online.
Fuziah said that the results of the elections could be expected as early as 2:30 pm on May 24.
Top image via Nurul Izzah Anwar/Facebook & Rafizi Ramli/Facebook
