PERAK PKR divisions today voted in favour of Rafizi Ramli for the deputy president’s post, giving him a small 995-vote overall lead over incumbent Azmin Ali despite losing in Kedah.

Rafizi said in a statement that PKR members in Perak gave him 6,700 (61%) votes, compared to 4,359 (39%) for Azmin.

He also said he won in 19 out of 24 divisions in Perak, calling it the biggest win in any of the states that have voted so far.

In Kedah, Rafizi said he lost to Azmin by only getting 3,210 (47%) votes compared to Azmin’s 3,653 (53%) votes.

The results in these two states also put Rafizi ahead of Azmin in the race to become the party’s new deputy president.

“With 158 divisions from 12 states, I am leading Azmin by 995 votes,” he said.

Rafizi said his overall votes were 47,542 (50.5%) with a total of 86 divisions backing him. Azmin meanwhile has 46,547 votes (49.5%) and 72 divisions for him.

Tomorrow, polling will continue in six divisions in Selangor, including in Rafizi’s Pandan division, and then followed by polling in Sabah and Sarawak in the coming weeks.

“The results so far, especially from Perak, indicate the demands by our grassroots which the party leadership must adhere to,” said the former Pandan MP.

He hopes that his good run will continue in the six divisions in Selangor, and then in Sabah and Sarawak.

Rafizi and Azmin have been involved in a bitter contest which seems to have divided the party right down the middle.

Last week, voting in several divisions in Selangor saw supporters from both sides being involved in scuffles and allegations of vote rigging and electoral fraud.

Azmin meanwhile said the spate of complaints and problems related to the ongoing party elections is proof of weaknesses in the online e-voting system. – October 27, 2018.