KUALA LUMPUR – PKR’s Central Election Committee (CEC) has denied claims that delegates boycotted the party’s leadership elections held last Friday.
Speaking to Scoop, committee chair Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the party’s constitutional amendment, approved on 15 December last year, introduced a proportional representation system for its leadership polls.
She said while 32,021 delegates were eligible to vote in the national-level contest, a total of 18,268 votes were recorded – comprising 12,618 online ballots and 5,650 physical ballots – making the turnout 57.05%.
“For the deputy president race, 13,669 votes were cast from a total of 13,752 ballots received.
“The 83-vote discrepancy could be due to some delegates opting not to vote for that position.
“That’s not unusual, as our system allows delegates the choice to vote for any post, or not vote at all. That’s their right,” she said.
Zaliha added that concerns about nearly half the delegates not voting should be viewed rationally.
“A 57% turnout is still reasonable for an internal party election, especially since it was held on a working day.
“Voting closed at 5pm and within about 30 minutes, candidate representatives were invited to witness the vote extraction process conducted by the auditors,” she said.
Meanwhile, PKR veteran and JPP committee member R Sivarasa said the reference point for the deputy president race was Form 14 on the party website, which set the quota at 22,000 eligible delegates.
“A turnout of around 57% may not be high, but the opportunity to vote was given – we can’t force delegates to cast their ballots.
“Yes, some feel the turnout was low, but at the branch level, it was higher – an average of around 75%,” he said.
Sivarasa stressed that the election process was transparent, and there was no indication of a boycott by eligible delegates.
“Why would anyone boycott the election? Everyone has the right to vote and should exercise that right – when results are announced, we must accept them.
“Claims of a ‘boycott’ or ‘hidden hands’ may be pushed by those unhappy their preferred candidate lost.
“But in reality, I’ve not heard of any organised boycott by voting delegates. Those who didn’t vote may have had their own reasons,” he said. – May 27, 2025