Accept PKR election results with open heart, Malaysia's Opposition Leader Anwar says

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at a public debate along with former PM Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur on May 12, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

PORT DICKSON (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysian Opposition Leader and President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Anwar Ibrahim called on Saturday (May 28) for all candidates of the party's 2022 election to accept the results with an open heart.

The results are due to be announced on Sunday, and Datuk Seri Anwar said they are meant to rebuild the party.

"Yes, it will be announced tomorrow (Sunday), all results are in, we (PKR) will harness our strength together after that," he told reporters after attending the Raya Mat Moto 1.0 celebration at Port Dickson, Bernama reported.

Earlier, PKR central election committee (JPP) chairman Dr Zaliha Mustafa was reported as saying that the PKR election results at national and branch levels would be announced on Sunday after it was postponed following fresh elections in several branches.

In this regard, Anwar, who is the chairman of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, again urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to expedite holding the special Parliament session to debate the Anti-Party Hopping Bill.

He said Pakatan was still waiting for Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri to decide on the dates of the special session before it was debated in Parliament.

Zaliha said the nomination period for 20 central leadership council seats in the PKR online election beginning on Sunday has been extended until Tuesday.

The extension also involves the nomination for 20 seats in the party's Angkatan Muda Keadilan (AMK) leadership council and 20 seats in the Wanita leadership council.

She said the online nomination, through its own internal election app called Adil, would begin from Sunday until Tuesday.

However, she said the physical nomination would be carried out from 9am to 5pm on Sunday at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

"All the processes are carried out according to the Amended Election Rules and Procedures of the Party Election on February 21, 2022," she said, adding that a notification was posted on the PKR 2022 election official Facebook page on Friday.

Before this, the nomination process for the posts, both online and physical, was fixed for only Sunday.

Based on the PKR 2022 election calendar, the results for 20 AMK and Wanita council posts will be known at the AMK and Women's Congress on June 24, while results for the 20 central leadership council (MPP) posts will be unveiled at the national congress a day later.

Zaliha said the voting at all 222 branches in every state had been completed, with the turnout for online voting exceeding 90 per cent.

"The voting process went well with no incidents. Voter turnout was fair, considering 65 branches had won uncontested at the division level.

"For the online voting, it was excellent with a more than 90 percent turnout," she said, adding that the "unofficial results" would be released from Sunday.

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