PETALING JAYA: The status of the Hulu Selangor PKR division continues to be mired in uncertainty following a battle of will between the winner of the divisional elections and the party leadership.
Party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail is insisting that fresh elections be held in the division, claiming that the polls conducted last month was invalid due to discrepancies in the total number of votes cast.
However, Nazar Yakin, who won the divisional chief post last month, is against the idea. He argues that the party's decision to declare his victory invalid was mooted in “a ploy to ensure someone else who is close to the leadership wins”.
“I agree that there were some discrepancies in the number of cast votes but that could have been solved on the day of the divisional election itself. The election officers knew there were extra number of votes but they still counted.
“Would they have declared the process to be invalid if someone else apart from me had won?” he asked.
In the contest, Nazar defeated six other candidates, including his closest rivals Radzali Mokhtar and Khalid Jaafar, a loyalist of deputy president aspirant Azmin Ali. Nazar had won by a slim 37 votes.
Nazar's team had then backed Zaid Ibrahim for the deputy president post. However, their victory was shortlived as Saifuddin announced that fresh elections should be held, even before the party's election committee could rule on Nazar's appeal.
Pact among rivals
To counter the decision to hold fresh elections, Nazar, working on the advice of certain election committee members, sought to gain the cooperation of all the contenders for the division's chief post to agree to abide by the results of the original election.
Last night, Nazar and his two closest rivals signed a pact to allow the former to be the divisional chief.
“However this morning, one of the signatories has indicated that he wants to pull out so that he can contest and win the divisional chief post,” a source close to the deal told FMT.
When contacted, Nazar said that the pact was signed and it was not possible for anyone to pull out now.
He added that he would be submitting the agreement to PKR headquarters soon so that fresh election need not be held.
“This is also what the PKR members in this division want. Let's not hassle them further by asking them to come out again to vote. They have done their democratic duty and I don't see any major issues with the conduct of the election. Let the results stand and let us concentrate on winning this seat back in the next general election,” said Nazar.
Another contender who fared badly in the last round is also hoping for fresh election so that he can win this time around. This contender also refused to be part of the pact.
“He is making his visits to the estates in particular, urging the Indian party members to vote for him. He is playing the race card,” a local community leader told FMT.
State exco's unseen hand
The community leader, who openly supports Nazar, said the Indian contender seemed to have the backing of Selangor state exco member Dr Xavier Jeyakumar.
“It looks like Jeyakumar wants to take advantage of the uncertainty in Hulu Selangor to strenghten his own base. As state exco in charge of estates, he carries weight among the party members in the estates,” the community leader added.
When asked for comment, Nazar said he was surprised by the move of the contender to play up the race cards to win fish for votes.
“He performed terribly last month. He had no support. Now he wants a re-election because of the so-called support from Jeyakumar. The party should not allow this. Enough of politicking. Let me and my team get on with our work,” he said.
FMT also learnt that Nazar's appeal to let the results stand, especially with the agreement he has inked with his rivals, will be decided by the election committee headed by Molly Cheah.
“However, the question remains if the committee is independent, especially when two of its members are close relatives of Jeyakumar.
“Will Cheah be able to decide without being influenced by party leaders who have their self-interest (to take care)? And will the party agree with Cheah's decision?” asked an aide to Nazar.
Hulu Selangor is seen as a prized division as it has the largest number of members – almost close to 8,000.
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