‘Umno won’t accept Azmin if he loses PKR elections’
He should just stay put in PKR if he were to lose in the party elections, say political analysts
Alyaa Azhar, Free Malaysia Today
Umno will not accept PKR incumbent deputy president Azmin Ali if he attempts to join Umno.
Monash University political analyst James Chin said that this was because the Gombak MP has “too much political baggage”.
And based on the latest PKR election results, Chin said it was almost impossible for him to lose. As such, it would be unnecessary for him to pull out from the party.
“His chances to maintain his post remain good unless there’s a 100% turnout and 90% of voters vote for [Selangor Menteri Besar] Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.”
Azmin currently leads the three-cornered deputy presidential race with 14,676 votes, followed by Khalid with 10,318 votes. Incumbent secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution is in third place with 7,306 votes.
Re-election is set to kick-start from May 31 until June 22 for divisions whose polls were suspended due to alleged irregularities.
Universiti Putra Malaysia political analyst Jayum Jawan also said that the possibility for Azmin to re-join Umno is close to nil as “no one (in Umno) trusts him”.
“If he pulls out, where is he going to go? I don’t think he’ll be able to form a new political party,” he said.
He added that it was better for Azmin to continue fighting and to try again in the next party elections if he loses this time around.
Jayum also believes that the party’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim will ensure that everyone will have a place in the party if they lose.
He however admitted that there must be a strong reason to replace Azmin, as evidenced in the three-cornered tussle for the post.
