MOHD Rafizi Ramli has announced that he will run for PKR deputy president in the party polls next month, returning to active politics after the party suffered crushing defeat in three state elections.

The party vice-president took a sabbatical in 2018, after a conviction caused him to sit out of the general election that year.

Rafizi said Pakatan Harapan’s continuous decline in recent polls has placed it in third place, behind Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional, adding that this will jeopardise the progress of multiracial politics.

“Realising this, I have decided to return to the political arena by confirming that I will be contesting for the PKR deputy president post in the next (party) polls,” he said in a statement on Facebook today.

Rafizi said PKR and PH supporters, who are “ordinary citizens”, have been urging him to return to active politics.

“I took a long time (to decide) as I was unsure whether I can help the situation, since I hold a minority view among the PH and PKR leadership.”

The former Pandan MP said he holds a different view regarding PH’s “big tent” strategy, which aims to form pacts with other political parties to take on BN and Umno.

He said he disagreed with this approach since 2019, but was a lone voice. As such, he took a step back from active politics.

Rafizi ran for PKR deputy president in 2018, challenging Mohamed Azmin Ali, who was the incumbent and retained the post.

Azmin and other party leaders, such as Rina Mohd Harun and Zuraida Kamaruddin, left to join Bersatu following the Sheraton Move and subsequently formed the PN government in February 2020.

The PKR deputy president post has been vacant ever since.

Rafizi warned PKR president Anwar Ibrahim of the dangers of surrounding himself with “opportunists” later the same year.

Rafizi was charged under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) in 2018 for whistle-blowing in the National Feedlot Corporation scandal, but was acquitted and discharged in 2019. – March 15, 2022.