KUALA LUMPUR – A potential power shift is brewing within Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah seemingly positioned to challenge his current deputy president for the role.
What looked set to be a low-key triennial party election on May 23 – with PKR president Anwar and his deputy Rafizi Ramli initially expected to return to their positions unopposed – could potentially turn into a three-way contest for the No. 2 position.
Party heavyweights on May 6 abruptly announced their backing of Ms Nurul Izzah, the Prime Minister’s 44-year-old eldest daughter, to challenge Datuk Seri Rafizi, 47, the Economy Minister, for the deputy presidency.
Mr Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, Datuk Seri Anwar’s senior political secretary, led five divisions in Melaka in declaring their intention to nominate her as their choice for deputy president.
This was swiftly followed by PKR vice-president Amirudin Shari, Youth chief Adam Adli and the Women’s chief Fadhlina Sidek saying they would back her.
Datuk Seri Amirudin, who is Menteri Besar of Selangor state, said the party needs a No. 2 who is not tied to the government administration but can focus on strengthening PKR ahead of the next general election.
“I am confident that with Ms Nurul Izzah as deputy president, we can restructure the party into a strong line-up, regain public confidence and ensure PKR remains relevant, progressive and respected,” Mr Amirudin said in a Facebook post on May 6.
There could even be a third contender for the post. A group of 10 PKR Sarawak leaders on May 7 announced their support for Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, 61, to contest the position at the party elections.
Datuk Seri Saifuddin, the former PKR secretary-general, said he has not ruled out running.
The upcoming PKR elections will be closely watched, as the party sits atop Malaysia’s multi-coalition government, and has seven Cabinet ministers apart from PM Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister.
The surprising recent developments have sparked speculation of factional tensions within PKR, hot on the heels of the party’s divisional elections from April 11 to 20, which have been marred by allegations of vote-buying and outright result tampering.
The polls, which determine the delegates eligible to vote in the central leadership election on May 23, saw several big names allied with Mr Rafizi notch surprise losses in the poll, amid whispers of tensions between him and Mr Anwar.
As at May 7, at least half of the 222 PKR divisions have said they would support Ms Nurul Izzah as their candidate for deputy president.
However, she was coy about the possibility of contesting. “I will make the best decision by balancing consensus, comradeship and meaningful change and reform for all members,” she said on Facebook.
Currently PKR vice-president, she had said on March 15 that she intended to defend her post.
Hours later on May 7, Mr Rafizi said he welcomes any challengers, including Ms Nurul Izzah and Mr Saifuddin, saying such contests should be “celebrated in the spirit of democracy”.
The Economy Minister also said he had offered to step down as deputy president and resign from his Cabinet position in a discussion with Mr Anwar, in order to focus on preparations for the next general election due in February 2028.
“My role as a minister requires me to align with government consensus, which limits my ability to express views as freely as I once did. This has affected the PKR election campaign, which is now seen as less aggressive,” he said in a May 7 Facebook post.
Mr Rafizi said he had made a similar suggestion to Mr Saifuddin in a separate meeting. But Mr Rafizi said both Mr Anwar and Mr Saifuddin advised him to remain in the race for deputy president and to continue serving in the Cabinet. “I said I will consider all opinions before making a final decision,” Mr Rafizi added.
In the same post, Mr Rafizi said he had raised his concerns over irregularities in the party’s divisional polls to the party’s central leadership council, which has agreed to appoint an independent audit firm to investigate the electronic voting system.
Several of his key allies, such as Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, lost in the divisional election.
He added a link to two reports to support his concerns: an audit report by the MPP-appointed independent firm YiNuo Technology dated May 4, and a separate technical review of that audit prepared by technologists Tham Chin Seng and Tang Tung Ai, dated May 5.
The May 4 report concluded that the e-voting system had “securely and transparently recorded and counted votes”, though it noted areas for improvement in “user-facing elements and internal consistency”.
However, the May 5 review disagreed with these findings, stating that several high-priority items in the original audit checklist, such as database integrity checks and vote data reconciliation, were either “partially executed or entirely omitted”.
Based on this, Mr Rafizi urged the party’s election committee to address the weaknesses in the e-voting system to ensure a smooth and credible central leadership election.
Professor Wong Chin Huat, a political scientist at Sunway University, said Ms Nurul Izzah’s candidacy for party deputy president would put Mr Anwar in a lose-lose situation.
Mr Anwar, 77, who was first elected PKR president in 2018 and is currently serving his second term, is limited to three terms under the party Constitution. His final term is set to end in 2028, coinciding with the next Malaysian general election.
Ms Nurul Izzah lost her parliamentary seat in the November 2022 General Election. She currently co-chairs a secretariat that advises the finance minister, a post held by Mr Anwar.
Dr Wong told The Straits Times: “If she wins, Mr Anwar will be accused of building a dynasty. Remember how (Indonesia’s former president) Joko Widodo’s image was damaged last year for backing his son to be vice-president?
“If she loses, even narrowly, Mr Anwar’s authority would be damaged.”
But he said that should Ms Nurul Izzah take over the party after Mr Anwar’s retirement, “that’s a different scenario”.
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