VIDEO INSIDE PETALING JAYA: PKR has decided to accept with immediate effect Zaid Ibrahim's decision to quit the party instead of waiting until Dec 16 as indicated in his resignation letter.
As such, Zaid is no longer considered a member of the party, secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said during a press conference at the party headquarters today.
He added that the decision to allow Zaid to leave immediately was made by the party's political bureau yesterday.
“The political bureau has decided to accept the resignation letter and it takes effect immediately... this is a political party. When he says he wants to resign, we will grant his wish to leave... We just want to make it easier for him to take the next step," he said.
He added that Zaid's relationship with the party was not like an employment contract which needed a month's notice prior to leaving.
"... the sooner (he leaves), the better," said Saifuddin.
But feedback from the party does not indicate that the former leader would be expelled swiftly.
"In Zaid's case, he submitted a resignation letter and it is up to him whether or not to appeal... but I would not want to answer a hypothetical question (if he wants to appeal).
"If that happens, he can come and see me," he added.
Zaid recently announced he would leave the party on Dec 16, in mockery of a Pakatan Rakyat “coup” to take over Putrajaya on Sept 16, 2008.
'We will investigate'
On another matter, Saifuddin said the party would investigate allegations about leaked ballot papers which made the rounds on the Internet before the central leadership polls proceeded in 51 divisions yesterday.
It was reported that two ballot papers went missing from two divisions yesterday, which Saifuddin claimed had something to do with allegations by a popular blogger that some ballot papers were released earlier than scheduled.
Read: PKR polls: Leaked ballot papers surface again
Without naming the blogger, Saifuddin said they came to know of the problem soon after the party checked the database system.
"Shortly, we informed the divisions that they had some missing ballot papers... but it turned out that the thief had given them to the blogger," he said.
Saifuddin also denied another allegation that several police officers had to escort ballot boxes to the party headquarters from the Puchong division.
"It was just that tension was high, which was to be expected as it was the final round of polling," he said, adding that the counting of the ballot papers was held at the polling hall.
Story continues after video:
As of yesterday, a total of 30,000 members out of 400,000 from 218 divisions nationwide have cast their votes in the “one-member, one vote” system kicked off last month.
Although the figure was not as impressive as expected, Saifuddin remained optimistic that it was a good start.
"It is a good start for us. It gives us an opportunity for us to improve our members' participation in the election process (in the next round to come)," he said.
The PKR national congress will take place from Nov 26 to 28, where the new leadership line-up including the deputy president and the vice-presidents will be announced.
But early results have shown that Azmin Ali is set to replace outgoing deputy president Syed Husin Ali. For the vice-presidents' post, the new line-up will be Nurul Izzah, Fuziah Salleh, Tian Chua and Dr Mansor Othman.
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