PKR won't fill posts of defectors until election, says sec-gen

 

The PKR central leadership has decided not to fill some of the highest-ranking vacancies that were created upon the defection of former party leaders until the next party election which will be held at a date that has yet to be determined.

According to Bernama, party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (above) said the decision was made at the PKR central committee meeting on May 1, as there were several top positions such as deputy president, vice-president and central committee member posts still left vacant.

"With this, the party leadership at the central level will remain as it is now without us filling these positions (left vacant) due to the abandonment by our old friends," he said in his welcome speech at the PKR 2020 Annual National Congress today.

Notable party vacancies arose when former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali and former vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin left the party last year as part of the Sheraton Move that collapsed the Pakatan Harapan government, while Dr Xavier Jayakumar resigned as PKR vice-president and also exited the party in March.

Saifuddin announced that the 2021 and 2022 annual party congress will be held simultaneously this year.

He lauded the Sungai Buloh division as the division with the highest number of new members signed up (6,259 members) from Nov 16 last year to April 29 this year.

Meanwhile, PKR organising secretary and congress director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the party has 2,028 branches nationwide so far, including 259 new ones registered this year.

"We set up a branch for each voting district in all the seats that the party is targeting to run in," he said when delivering a welcome speech at the congress.

About 2,000 delegates joined the online congress through the Zoom application which started at 8am today.

The congress was originally slated for June 5. However, the National Security Council and the Registrar of Societies (ROS) issued orders for its cancellation, despite the ROS stating in writing on May 27 that it had no objections to holding the meeting online. - Mkini