KUALA LUMPUR: The rift plaguing the top PKR leadership, evidenced by the ongoing drama involving the selection of its 14th General Election (GE14) candidates, could very well mirror the chaos expected to take place at the party’s own elections later this year.
With only a few days to go until campaigning begins, PKR’s preparations appear to be far from complete, with rival factions still jostling to have their own people included in the final candidates list.
At the centre of the storm are PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, whose power struggle with deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali centres around whom among their respective team members will make the cut for the final list.
Wan Azizah had reportedly axed eight of Azmin’s candidates from the list, which reportedly necessitated the mediation of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim himself via a meeting with Azmin at a Selangor hospital where Anwar had been warded for treatment.
Sources claim that Anwar had vetoed several decisions made by Wan Azizah and also rejected several candidates put forward by Azmin.
Observers believe that this bodes ill for PKR, given that it required a last-minute intervention from the prison-bound Anwar to ward off a potential disaster for the party.
They believe that the feud between the president and her deputy is also a harbinger of what will come in the party’s central executive committee election, where the rival camps will vie for the top posts. How well their candidates perform in GE14 will have a big impact on how much influence they will wield in being able to arrange their own lineups in the party elections.
Some believe that Azmin is the most qualified on the candidates selection issue as he knows which candidates can eke out a win in Selangor, where he is the Menteri Besar.
The problem, however, goes beyond just the feud between Azmin and Wan Azizah. The fractured nature of PKR, say observers, have led to the rise of factionalism within the party, with PKR now split into five groups.
While Anwar may have his preferred candidates, so do Wan Azizah, Azmin, Saifuddin Nasution and Rafizi Ramli.
This has in turn sparked a ‘psy war’ among the camps, with rival factions using WhatsApp and other social media platforms as their battleground. The latest evidence of this was seen in a ‘leaked’ PKR candidates list, which Azmin’s camp was later prompted to reject as false.
This very friction has also had a trickle down effect, causing unease and confusion among other opposition parties which are depending on PKR for their candidates’ appointment letters, given that they are all contesting under one banner.
Political pundits believe that this is just the beginning and that the rift will deepen even further once the party elections comes around.