No split in PKR due to fight for No 2 post, says party sec-gen

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has dismissed talks of a possible split in PKR due to the contest for the number two post in the upcoming party polls.

Its party secretary-general, who would be going up against Rafizi Ramli for the deputy president post, said he believed that it would not result in a crisis or any party defections.

“I have to admit that at the back of party members’ and the public’s minds, they will normally equate the PKR party polls with chaos and infighting.

“I don’t think a similar episode will repeat itself,” he told reporters after attending a political stability and transformation steering committee meeting on Thursday (April 7).

Several political pundits had previously predicted that there could be a split within the party due to intense internal infighting during the party polls.

Saifuddin believed neither Rafizi nor himself would defect from the party should one of them lose in the party election.

“I don’t see our characters repeating what Azmin Ali (former PKR deputy president) did previously,” said Saifuddin.

Despite winning his deputy president seat in the previous party polls, Azmin did not have good ties with party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Those aligned with Azmin had quit the party in February 2020.

Asked whether he had decided on any running mates or team in the party polls, Saifuddin said he believed that all candidates are equal.

“I have received multiple requests to work together, and I am open to the idea. But the fact is, my ‘cai’ (camp) is the whole PKR leadership who have offered themselves to contest.

“When we talk about ‘cai’, there are pros and cons. Maybe this can lead to factionalism. That is what we are trying to avoid,” he said.