PKR election drama continues, Azmin about to win in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: The ongoing elections at PKR continue to be a problem, with a division in Sabah extending the voting period after 17 hours.

This comes after the ruckus that took place yesterday during the voting process for the Keningau Division, where Vice President, hope Rafizi Ramli, had to be escorted out of the meeting venue after being involved in an outrageous match with supporters of Mohamed Azmin Ali's camp.

The chairman of the party's electoral commission, Rashid Din, said the poll was due to be extended in Pensiangan today because of the overwhelming crowd.

He told the FMT that many voters were waiting to vote after the deadline.

"There were too many people still waiting inside and outside the hall. (At the end), we decided to close the doors of the complex and allow those who were waiting to register and vote, "he said.

The voting process continued until 19:30.

"We had no choice … many still could not vote but we had to stop at 19:30," he said.

Sabah PKR vice-chairman Kenny Chua said the party's electoral committee had discretion, provided the candidates in the division concerned agree.

Pensiangan, which is part of the interior of Sabah, has some 3,000 members eligible to vote.

Sabah, with 25 PKR divisions, has the second largest number of PKR members with 147,000 registered members.

Thirteen divisions went to the polls today during the second stage of the statewide voting process.

Unofficial figures from most divisions showed that Azmin was ahead of Rafizi.

The Minister of Economic Affairs has so far won 14 divisions, including 8 today. At the time of printing, he had collected nearly 7,800 votes against 5,580 votes Rafizi.

Observers say the results of Tenom and Pensiangan could tip the balance in favor of Rafizi, the former Pandan MP, who called his team pro-Anwar Ibrahim, would be popular in both rural areas.