According to them, the current vice-president was the right choice for the job.
However, some party sources wondered if this was an attempt to ensure that control of PKR remained in the hands of a select few.
Speaking to reporters at the PKR headquarters here this morning, supreme council member Kamarul Bahrin Abbas said Azmin had gone through many rough patches since the reformasi days.
He said 20 MPs and senators were backing Azmin for the number two slot.
Also present at the press conference were MPs Zuraidah Kamaruddin (Ampang), Loh Gwo Burne (Kelana Jaya), Johari Abdul (Sungai Petani) and Amran Abdul Ghani (Tanah Merah).
Questioning the timing of the press conference given that nominations had not concluded, the sources asked if Azmin's camp was rattled by the prospect of supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim entering the ring.
Azmin, who is a close associate of PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, was always said to be uncomfortable with Zaid's presence and meteoric rise.
"So is this a move by the Anwar-Azmin 'cartel' to make sure that the party remains in the hands of a privileged few instead of having an 'outsider' like Zaid move up the ranks?
"Zaid has been getting tremendous support in the party, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, and this has left some leaders in PKR squirming uncomfortably in their seats," said a source.
The source also questioned why PKR was averse to allowing new leaders to rise up the ranks compared to its Pakatan Rakyat partners PAS and DAP.
"This does not happen in the other parties, only in PKR. Like when (former MCA vice-president) Chua Jui Meng joined, it took him such a long time to go up," he said.
Certain forces
Meanwhile, Zaid himself indicated in his blog that certain forces were at work to undermine him and drew a comparison between his position and with what happened to Umno stalwart Ghafar Baba in the past.
Zaid said when he joined the opposition party a year ago, he was hailed as a hero, but now he was being branded as an Umno agent on a mission to destroy PKR.
He also revealed that his rivals had paid a popular blogger to tarnish his name.
"The blogger was asked to write that I will pay RM20,000 to the branch that nominates me, and that I was tasked by (former finance minister) Daim Zainuddin to destroy PKR," he said.
"My loyalty has been questioned, but loyalty to whom? Perhaps, I am not loyal to the party's cause or to the highest leadership, I don't know.
"Perhaps these MPs will come forward and explain why my nomination will not be supported at their press conferences to show support for the great Anwar-Azmin combination," he added.
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