Dismal voters turnout in PKR polls

The PKR polls at the Wangsa Maju division in Kuala Lumpur today saw a sluggish 3.2 percent turnout in voters, a sign perhaps of a boycott provoked by Zaid Ibrahim’s withdrawal.

The division polls closed at 4pm with only 44 out of 1,368 members having cast their votes during the six-hour polling today.

When met by Malaysiakini at the polling station at Taman Melati earlier, grassroots members denied that the low turnout was related to their former division chief Zaid’s pulling out of the race.

Malaysiakini observed that for almost three hours from morning until 1pm today, only a handful of members showed up.

Wangsa Maju Youth chief Mohd Hamdi Mohd Said asserted that the turnout had nothing to do with Zaid’s decision on Monday to pull out of the deputy president contest.

“Maybe they (the members) have other engagements... Wangsa Maju division has held a meeting and we have no problems (with Zaid’s withdrawal),” he said.

"We will continue to fight the cause, as we have done before without Zaid," he told Malaysiakini when met at the polling station earlier this afternoon.

Mohd Hamdi, founder of the Wangsa Maju division, said they have tried to reach out to members to come and vote - via SMS, phone calls and even ferrying them to the polling station.

‘Zaid should leave PKR’

Division deputy chief Mazlan Abdul Jalil was however more candid, saying that the grassroots are disappointed with Zaid’s decision to drop out in the heat of the contest.

Even so, Mazlan said that Zaid’s statements had not been aligned with members who had been fighting the reformasi cause from the very beginning.

When asked about which candidate the grassroots preferred for the position of deputy president, he said he could not tell what was in the minds of the grassroots.    

However, he said that they would choose “the leader who truly champions the party’s cause.”

Wangsa Maju branch leader Mazlan Harun on the other hand openly expressed disappointment with Zaid.

"I'd rather he (Zaid) leave PKR. We have fought 24 hours a day for our party. He is a newcomer, we have been here all this while," he said.

Kuala Nerus division’s AGM put off again

Meanwhile, the venue for Kuala Nerus PKR's annual meeting had to be changed today after the original venue at its Padang Air branch was locked.

Terengganu PKR Youth chief Fariz Musa said he suspected it to be the work of saboteurs.

The members had no choice but to hold the meeting at the Batu Enam branch instead, he told Bernama.

Fariz, who is also PKR Youth deputy chief, added that the division had 600 registered members.