Team Azmin set to control PKR supreme council

By Adib Zalkapli

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 — PKR candidates aligned to Azmin Ali are expected to control up to 70 per cent of the 25-member supreme council seat, in what is an indication of the dominance of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s longest serving lieutenants.
The Gombak MP, who is set to win the deputy presidential race, however has failed to ensure his men’s success in the contest for the four vice-president’s posts.
Only Penang Deputy Chief Minister Mansor Osman, an Azmin supporter, has made it to the top four with 7,448 votes.
Mansor, however, is trailing behind Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar (11,042), Batu MP Chua Tian Chang (9,524) and Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh (7,878).
Both Nurul Izzah and Fuziah have not publicly supported Azmin in the deputy presidential contest. Similarly Chua has also been neutral throughout the contest.
Notably missing from the list is Azmin’s loyalist Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar who finished sixth last weekend with 4,840 votes.
Azmin’s (picture) campaign team had expected Jayakumar to make it to the top four last weekend when polling for Selangor divisions started.
The Kota Raja PKR chief is confident, however, of winning the contest when voting ends next weekend.
 “There is a possibility of getting into the fourth place or even the third place with the help of big divisions like my division Kota Raja and Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Gombak,” Jayakumar told The Malaysian Insider.
He blamed low turnout for his failure to improve his ranking.
“The turnout was far below our expectation. Like Sepang for example we expected about 500 to turn up but only around 200 members came,” said Jayakumar.
A total of nine Selangor divisions have voted last weekend, while the remaining 13 divisions in the state would vote in the final round this weekend. Selangor has a membership of more than 100,000 – 25 per cent of the party’s total members.
Sources familiar with Azmin’s campaign however blamed the presence of Padang Serai MP N. Gobalakrishnan who got into the fifth place with 5,288 votes.
“Gobalakrishnan is more popular among the majority of the members, the Malays and the contest between Gobalakrishnan and Xavier is about winning the fifth place,” said the PKR insider who expected one of the Indian leaders to be appointed vice-president should they fail to make it to the top four.
The PKR constitution allows for the appointment of two additional vice-presidents.
Other Selangor leaders who failed to make significant gains last weekend were former aide to Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Yahya Sahri and Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam. 
The Malaysian Insider understands that attempts were made by Azmin campaigners to get Selangor members to vote for Yahya and Manikavasagam.
Yahya, however, finished seventh with 4,840 votes while Manikavasagam remained in the 15th place with 1,558 votes. A total of 17 candidates are running for the vice-presidency.
Meanwhile in the contest for the central leadership council membership, Team Azmin is expected to dominate up to 70 per cent of the 25 seats.
His hardcore supporters, Selangor government information chief Badrulamin Baharon, Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul, Taman Medan assemblyman Haniza Talha, Khalid Jaafar and Abdul Rahman Yusof are among the top ten candidates with the highest votes.
The coming weekend will see the last round of voting for the party’s pilot attempt at direct elections.
PKR’s remaining 57 divisions would vote this weekend and the results would be officially announced during the party’s congress from November 26 to 28.
More than 30,000 members have voted since polling started on October 29. The average turnout is currently 8.4 per cent.
The remaining 57 divisions which are still to vote have a combined membership 50,000.
Azmin is most likely to win the deputy president post as his only competition is unlikely to catch up with his present 11,350 vote lead.
Azmin obtained 14,751 votes while Mustaffa Kamil Ayub received only 3,401 after votes from the party’s first-ever direct elections conducted in 165 divisions.
Another contender Datuk Zaid Ibrahim had pulled out of the race last week and claimed that the party has failed to address allegations of election irregularities.