KUALA LUMPUR — PKR has passed several amendments to its party constitution to improve its own electoral process, said party secretary-general Fuziah Salleh.
She said that the amendments, which were passed by over two thirds of delegates during the party’s special congress earlier today, include increasing the number of delegates eligible to vote for PKR’s six highest office-bearers and 20 central leadership council members.
Previously, PKR grassroots members voted for the party’s top six leaders while delegates elected the 20 council members.
The amendments, Fuziah said in a statement today, also involve implementing gender and ethnic quotas for the delegates.
“The special congress saw more than two-thirds of delegates agreeing with and passing all the proposed party constitutional amendments,” she said.
She added that a new date for the party’s 2024 and 2025 national congress will be announced once the central leadership council has made a decision on the matter.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, PKR central leadership council member Wong Chen said that the amendments mean that the “one person, one vote” principle will still be implemented to elect 30,000 branch leaders.
These branch leaders, whom he said will be chosen through a formula to ensure greater women participation and racial diversity, will then be entrusted to elect central committee members.
“This basic proposal originated from me and was accepted by the central committee meeting on November 30,” the Subang MP added, noting that prime minister and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had supported the proposal then.
Fuziah was previously reported as saying that the current one person, one vote system, which the amendments seek to rectify, often undermined the integrity of the voting process, as grassroots members lacked detailed knowledge on candidates and would instead vote based on familiarity or according to camps.
Party treasurer William Leong previously told Scoop that PKR’s current “one member, one vote” system has deficiencies which must be rectified while maintaining the organisation’s democratic principles. – December 15, 2024