As the dust settles from the divisional elections in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), one truth cuts through the noise of internal drama, app glitches, and vote recounts: Anwar Ibrahim is reclaiming his party.
After years of rising tensions between the old guard and the reformist bloc led by Rafizi Ramli, the 2025 party polls have become a battleground not just for cabang level leadership but for the soul and direction of PKR itself.
From the outset, murmurs of irregularities tainted the process. Some members allege the ADIL app was compromised, citing phantom voters and system breakdowns. Others claim cabang contests were influenced by central-level interference, quietly orchestrated to sideline certain candidates.
But let’s not pretend this is new. PKR’s internal elections have always been turbulent, a reflection of its grassroots culture where political idealism often collides with realpolitik.
Still, whatever grievances linger, the numbers don’t lie and neither does the emerging pattern.
Anwar’s loyalists swept key divisions. Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, a staunch ally, won unopposed in Gombak. R. Ramanan also cruised through without challenge. Even celebrity figures aligned with the leadership, like Altimet and Afdlin Shauki, secured major wins defeating more established reformist names like Nik Nazmi.
Although Rafizi Ramli managed to defend his Pandan stronghold, the broader signal is undeniable: his grip on the party is loosening.
This is more than just a personnel reshuffle it’s a recentralisation of power. Anwar, now Prime Minister, cannot afford internal dissent. Not when UMNO is breathing down his neck, PAS is consolidating strength, and public sentiment grows impatient. The party must speak with one voice and that voice is his.
The real test, however, lies ahead. The central leadership elections on 24 May will confirm whether Anwar’s reclamation of the party is absolute. Should his camp dominate the Majlis Pimpinan Pusat, it will mark the end of Rafizi’s reformist push for now.
But even before that, the writing is already on the wall: PKR is returning to its roots. The reformist wave is ebbing, and the party is once again rallying around the man who built it, broke it, and now seeks to bind it under his banner once more.
In PKR, as always survival comes first.
Source : Malaysia Today
Vote-rigging claims mar internal polls for PM Anwar’s party
Allegations of vote-rigging have marred what had appeared to be a muted leadership contest in Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
Datuk Seri Anwar and his deputy president Rafizi Ramli are set to be returned unopposed at the national-level polls in May, a move that party leaders say is to maintain stability in the lynchpin of his disparate multi-coalition government. But several shocks at divisional-level votes, held from April 11 to 20, have raised claims of irregularities including vote-buying and outright tampering of results.
An emergency leadership council meeting to discuss the polls will be held on April 23 at the request of over a third of council members, PKR secretary-general Fuziah Salleh confirmed on April 20.
This comes after even Natural Resources and Environmental Stability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad lost his Setiawangsa (Kuala Lumpur) division chairmanship on April 19, and other fellow vice-presidents aligned to Economy Minister Rafizi were also defeated at the polls for the ruling party.
“I believe that a fair and transparent election process is the basis of Keadilan’s strength as a reformist party,” said Mr Nazmi in a Facebook post on April 20, adding that an appeal has been filed as there are “issues that must be raised… as part of our commitment” to fair polls conducted with integrity.
Communications director Lee Chean Chung, who is appealing against his loss in Petaling Jaya (Selangor) despite being its MP, told The Straits Times the results were so erratic it “was like World Cup betting”, referring to upsets at football’s top tournament that detractors attribute to match-rigging by bookies. PKR has 31 MPs, with the so-called unity government it leads controlling a two-thirds majority in the 222-strong Parliament.
PKR’s triennial polls elect officer bearers for all 222 divisions around the country before proceeding to decide the national leadership.
While Mr Lee and several others vying to be division chiefs were defeated, their allies still dominated other positions up for grabs, leading to talk of “bodies without heads” at the party grassroots.
The controversy, if not resolved, piles on to PKR’s woes, as the government has been repeatedly criticised for the slow pace of reforms since being installed in November 2022. This is despite reformist ideals being at the core of PKR’s identity from the day it was formed by party president Anwar in 1999.
PKR’s last leadership polls were held in mid-2022, just months ahead of the general election, and saw leaders aligned to Economy Minister Rafizi take the lion’s share of top positions, including three of the four elected vice-presidencies.
Despite being the party’s No. 2, Mr Rafizi was handed the relatively junior portfolio of economic planning in the Anwar administration, with most of his major projects eventually going to other Cabinet ministers.
PM Anwar’s allies have so far done well in the 2025 polls that utilise blockchain security measures for its electronic voting system, with a host of his political secretaries now leading their divisions, and in some cases winning unopposed.
But several MPs and state assemblymen including members of federal and state administrations lost out, among them Deputy Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Akmal Nasir, a close protege of Mr Rafizi.
Mr Akmal claimed he had garnered at least 949 votes, or a simple majority of registered members based on screenshots and signed declarations collected by polling agents, but official results saw him tally just 587 votes in Johor Bahru, where he is also the MP.
The petition by more than 20 central leadership councillors – far in excess of the one-third needed – for an emergency meeting was filed after the first weekend of results, with hopes that a meeting would be convened before the divisional polls were concluded on April 20, top party officials told ST.
“There is speculation that there is manipulation of the tallied votes. We will be asking to open up the records, but if allowed and the rumours are correct, it would blow up,” a council member said on condition of anonymity, given the confidentiality of the leadership meetings.
The hope of those who requested the leadership council meeting is that the national-level vote in May will not be afflicted by the same issues.
Other party sources spoke of allegations of vote-buying, with a video of payment for votes making the rounds.
Source : Straits Times
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