THE time has come for PKR candidates to choose between two camps in the party led by deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, or vice-president Rafizi Ramli, said Fuziah Salleh today.

The Wanita PKR candidate said party members could no longer hide who they were backing and had to openly declare if they were going with Azmin or Rafizi.

The Kuantan MP said the time to play safe was over and those aspiring for positions in the party elections should say publicly who they backed.

“It is not about individuals but about the principles they represent, and we should stand behind the person we think is most principled,” she said, announcing her run for the PKR Wanita chief post and her slate of candidates.

The slate is aligned to Rafizi Ramli, who is running for the party’s deputy president post.

Nominations for the PKR elections are to be held on August 5 and voting will be from September 14 to October 7.

The party’s 800,000 members will vote through an electronic balloting system.

The election’s main battle appears to be for the deputy president’s post, where the incumbent is Azmin.

Azmin has not declared whether he will defend his post from Rafizi or if he will go for the presidency, which will pit him against his mentor and party de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

Fuziah was speaking at the the #Reformasi20Tahun event organised by the group in PKR that is backing Rafizi.

Meanwhile, candidate for the Wanita deputy chief post, Rodziah Ismail, said the party had to continue upholding the reform agenda, even though it was in the ruling government now.

“We have to ensure that PKR continues to uphold reform. We support the strong leadership of Anwar Ibrahim and will ensure that Rafizi becomes the deputy president,” Rodziah said.

The Malaysian Insight reported a week ago of a clash shaping up between Rafizi and Azmin as the former has support from some 30 PKR elected representatives and from among the grassroots, who feel that he better represents the party’s reform ideals. – July 29, 2018.