As dust settles at PKR congress, Azmin-Rafizi rivalry continues

PKR AGM | Though this year's PKR national leadership elections saw Anwar Ibrahim win the presidency uncontested, the deputy president position saw an intense race between Azmin Ali and Rafizi Ramli unfold over the course of nearly two months.

The battle between the two of them saw accusations of money politics, missing votes, unfair handling of the elections and attempts to rig the results, which delayed the already lengthy election process.

However, several days before the official announcement of the results, Rafizi announced that he was conceding defeat to Azmin, though he said it was for the greater good of the party. 

Despite attempts to mend the rift between the two leaders throughout the PKR National Congress this weekend, Azmin and Rafizi's speeches made it clear that the rivalry continues to run deep.

The national congress, held this weekend at the Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC), was peppered with mentions and display of the rivalry between the two teams.

But on Saturday, it initially appeared that one delegate finally managed to get the two leaders to set aside their differences.

Perlis PKR delegate Tengku Nazeri Tengku Aldin in his speech called upon Azmin and Rafizi to stop their rivalry for the sake of party unity.

"I urge Team Rafizi and Team Azmin, the time has come to stop this now," he had said.

The party members' desire for a more united party manifested in the form of thunderous applause and a standing ovation for this simple plea.

This prompted Azmin to head towards Rafizi, and the two proceeded to shake hands before raising their hands in the air. The two PKR leaders then shared a brief hug.

In a party election so divided along the lines of Team Rafizi and Team Azmin, this symbolic exchange caused the crowd, which at that time was still applauding the Perlis delegate, to cheer even louder.

However, the shine quickly wore off this seeming ceasefire between the two leaders, as both their speeches today contained veiled barbs against each other.

In Rafizi's winding-up speech as the outgoing vice-president, he cautioned against internal sabotage, saying that it is okay to have differences of opinion except on Anwar's position as the eighth prime minister.

He also took a jab at "those who won, who received positions, who became ministers", reminding them that it is their duty to perform well to assist Anwar when he becomes prime minister.

"Don't forget that... if you fail in carrying out your duties as ministers, you will cause us to lose in the upcoming 15th general election," he warned.

Rafizi also insisted in his speech that he could have had grounds to appeal the party election results, but decided against it as not to open up space for criticisms against Anwar and the party. 

As the winner of the deputy president position, Azmin could be more gracious in his speech, saying that a person who maintains a cool head while under attack will ultimately emerge as the champion. 

He also joked that he was not being challenged by Rafizi, but instead, the latter was only "offering a service to the party".

"But not a problem, I am cool, I am calm," he had quipped.

Now that the official results are out, it is clear that Team Azmin had dominated the elections. 

Aside from Nurul Izzah Anwar who won the vice presidency and Akmal Nasir who emerged as the PKR Youth chief, all other winners at the top leadership level were candidates endorsed by Team Azmin.

Despite the factionalism, all in the party appeared to agree that there was a need to revamp the party election system.

Former PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had suggested that the party consider only using the "one member, one vote" system to elect its top leaders while reverting to the delegate system for all other positions, as it is not practical when there are too many votes to count.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua also pushed for electoral reforms within the party, suggesting that all members must have joined the party for at least one year before being allowed to vote in party polls.

Anwar himself had also expressed his dissatisfaction with the party electoral process this time, saying that he intends to form a special committee to look into revamping the electoral system. - Mkini