PKR POLLS | The PKR central election committee should address the grievances raised by deputy presidential candidate Rafizi Ramli over the Julau leg of the elections, instead of indulging in personal attacks, says Akmal Nasir.

When contacted by Malaysiakini yesterday, the PKR Youth chief candidate said Rafizi had asked legitimate questions about the conduct of the election, which the committee had not addressed.

“Instead of answering Rafizi’s questions, instead of considering a re-election for Julau, he attacked Rafizi on a personal basis,” said Akmal, who is widely considered to be Rafizi’s lieutenant. 

Akmal said this when asked to respond to election committee head Rashid Din, who had told Free Malaysia Today yesterday that there would be no re-election for the Julau division. 

Rafizi had alleged that the tablet computers used for the e-voting system were tampered with and infected with “malware," therefore warranting fresh polls. 

Rashid, who initially asked for the election results for Julau to be suspended, argued that the voting data was intact and therefore no re-election was necessary. 

He also suggested that Rafizi had failed to mobilise his supporters to vote, and that the turnout during the afternoon of Nov 10 was dismal. 

“In Julau, at 1pm to 2pm, nobody came out to vote. Between 2pm and 4.30pm, only 20 plus people came to vote.

“In Pensiangan, even at 7pm, about 500 people came to vote. That is why we needed to re-do the election. But Rafizi is not making noise about Pensiangan, because he won with a big margin there.

“This is what people call sour grapes. All these are sour grapes,” Rashid said.

Showing 'true colours'

According to Akmal, the election committee head's “sour grapes” remark revealed the latter’s “true colours.” 

“At least allow the process to be over before you show who you are with. He should remain professional until the process is over,” he said.

Akmal argued that Rafizi had cast doubt over the integrity of the election process in Julau, and the rightful thing for Rashid to do was to show evidence if the committee disputed the claim. 

The PKR election began on Sept 22 and was held every weekend until Nov 11. It was marred by incidents of violence, vote-buying allegations, and claims that the e-voting system could be compromised, among others.

However, the party’s executive body, the political bureau, had affirmed the committee's decision to end the process, despite Rafizi’s camp crying foul. 

The party’s new leadership line-up – one expected to be dominated by those aligned to Rafizi's challenger, Mohamed Azmin Ali – is expected to be announced during the party’s national annual delegates congress this weekend.