FULL REPORT PETALING JAYA: PKR has reversed its earlier calculation of votes and announced that deputy president aspirant Azmin Ali was officially leading the race by more than 500 votes at the end of the first round of polls over the weekend.
Azmin, largely seen as party de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's annointed successor, has garnerd 3,051 votes, as opposed to Zaid Ibrahim's 2,529 votes.
The third contender, Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, managed to gain 1,149 votes.
These figures were released by PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail during a press conference at the party headquarters today.
Earlier today, PKR deputy secretary-general Sharifah Shahidah had tweeted that Zaid had grabbed an unexpected lead in the first round of the party polls.
According to her, Zaid was leading Azmin by 632 votes. She added that Zaid had bagged 3,683 votes against Azmin's 3,051 and Mustaffa was third with 1,271 votes.
The race for vice-president
Meanwhile, in the race for the vice-presidents' slot, PKR strategy director and Batu MP Tian Chua is leading the pack with 3,621 votes. He is being closely trailed by Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar with 3,543 votes.
Two other favourite candidates for vice-presidents' posts are party elections director and Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh and Mansor Othman who have garnered 2,895 and 2,852 votes respectively.
For supreme council posts, incumbent Badrul Amin Bahron is comfortably leading a long list of candidates with 3,087 votes. He is followed by Selangor state executive councillor and Bukit Lanjan assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong with 2,582 votes.
Also in the top bracket is Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul with 2,572 votes. Petaling Jaya Selatan MP Hee Loy Sian is the candidate with the lowest number of votes for the supreme council post with 2,174 votes.
Tough fight for youth seat
Meanwhile, incumbent women's wing chief and Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin is in a comfort lead over her challengers Animah Ferrer and Suraya Sudin. Zuraida gained 1,160 votes while Animah took in 408 and Suraya, 403 votes.
The fight for women's wing deputy post saw Batu Tiga assemblyman and Selangor state executive councillor Roziah Ismail leading big over her rival Asmah Abdul Kadir. After the first round of polls, Roziah has won 1,400 votes while Asmah has managed only 414 votes.
The contest for the youth's top post promises to be an intense affair with incumbent Shamsul Iskandar trailing challenger Badrul Hisham Shaharin. Shamsul has bagged 1,029 votes while his rival has gained 1,133 votes.
However there is no such problem for the incumbent deputy chief of the youth wing, Khairul Anuar Zainuddin, who has garnered 1,214 votes to leave behind challenger Teja assemblyman Chang Lih Kang who could muster only 833 votes.
Recount after 'protest'
Amid the glaring differences in the vote-tally as released earlier today, party secretary-general Saifuddin said there was a recount following the initial announcement of results by Shahidah. He also blamed it on 'human error'.
He said the recount was made following protests made by supporters from both Zaid's and Azmin's camp.
Saifuddin also said that only nine percent of the total 400,000 PKR members cast their ballots over the weekend.
He said the lower turnout could be due to the party's concentration on the Galas and Batu Sapi by-elections, slated for Nov 4.
Other reasons, according to him, could be the lack of avenues for the party to inform its members on the polling and also the Malaysia Cup football match between Kelantan and Negeri Sembilan.
“With the Home Ministry's ban on our official mouthpiece Suara Keadilan, we are unable to inform our members of the party elections," he said.
PKR elections officer Radin Shamsul Kamar Radin Shamsudin told FMT that the human error was due to staff shortage.
"Only three officers were at hand to count the votes from all the divisions and they were under pressure," he said.
Over the weekend, as many as 68 divisions from Kelantan, Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Pahang, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan had gone to the polls. The second round of voting will take place this weekend
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