KUALA LUMPUR – 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 votes in May, a move 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 elections will be held on April 23 at the request of more than 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 his loss in Petaling Jaya (Selangor) despite being its Member of Parliament, 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 the party’s identity from the day it was formed by 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 handed to other Cabinet ministers.
In the 2025 election, PM Anwar’s allies have so far done well in the 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.
On the other hand, 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.
However, the hope by those who called for 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.
Former PKR vice-president Tian Chua said in an April 17 Facebook post he was “not surprised at all”, claiming vote buying also occurred at the 2022 party election when he lost the Batu division chair in Kuala Lumpur.
“This is the sad reality of PKR today. I feel really sorry for those who still think that they can contest party elections in an honest and idealistic way,” said the former MP who was sacked from PKR in 2023 after unilaterally contesting in the November 2022 general election without consent.
The controversy surrounding PKR’s polls has led to public consternation as well as mockery.
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) information chief Fadhli Shaari said on April 20 that for “friends from PKR disappointed with the internal election system” who feel “the situation is too terrible to be repaired, the door to Perikatan Nasional is always open,” referring to the opposition coalition which he is part of.
- Shannon Teoh is The Straits Times’ bureau chief for Malaysia, where he has reported on various beats since 1998.
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