Muda member wants party polls to replace leadership

 

A Muda member has urged the party to conduct an election to rejuvenate the current leadership.

This stems from the string of electoral defeats, starting with the 2022 Johor state election, the 15th general election (GE15), and the recently concluded 2023 state elections.

Danial Jafri emphasised that Muda’s central executive committee members were not appointed through a party election, an initiative that the party’s grassroots have persistently advocated.

He also claimed that Muda’s stance and decisions were not determined transparently and were made without considering the party members’ views or involvements.

“These embarrassing defeats prove that the appointed central executive committee members have failed and have only made Muda regress.

“...The current practice of appointing committee members without party elections disrespects members' democratic rights and contradicts the principle of Muda, which is democratic representation.

“Therefore, party elections need to be conducted to ensure that competent and integrity-driven Muda leadership can be democratically chosen,” he said in a statement today.

Electoral wipeout

This comes after Muda faced an electoral wipeout in the state polls where all 19 of its candidates lost the seats they contested in Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Selangor and Terengganu. They also lost their deposits.

During the campaign period, the party's sole candidate in Terengganu, Muda information chief Luqman Long, said that he will resign if he loses his deposit for the Bandar seat - which he did.

In the 2022 Johor state elections, only one out of seven candidates won, which was Muda deputy president Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz who secured the Puteri Wangsa seat.

As for GE15, Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman retained his seat in Muar while the five other candidates lost.

Meanwhile, in a surprising move, Danial called for the party to amend its ties with Pakatan Harapan.

He stated that Muda should cease its attack against the coalition government, saying that the Harapan-BN alliance should be seen as “allies rather than enemies”.

Last October, Muda joined an electoral pact with Harapan for GE15 but decided to venture solo for the state elections later, citing discontent with the “two giants” (existing blocs Harapan/BN and Perikatan Nasional). - Mkini