The PKR is investigating suspicions of irregularities in several Sabah divisions in the PKR central polls, said Sabah party deputy chief Christina Liew.

"I checked with the headquarters and was told that they are currently investigating...I understand that the majority of the (complaints) have been lodged with the headquarters, although I don't know how long the probe will take," she said when contacted yesterday.

The chief concern is the voter turnout in several divisions in Sabah, including Sandakan and Libaran, triggering alarm bells within the party as the figures buck the state-wide turnout trend of around 10 percent.

NONE "Sabahan members seem to feel that the central polls are less important compared to divisional polls because they are more concerned over who leads them locally," Liew ( left ) said.

In Libaran, 898 out of the 1,501 registered members, or 59.83 percent cast their ballots, with deputy presidential aspirant Azmin Ali almost making a clean sweep there.

Sandakan also attracted a high turnout of 43.57 percent, with 456 of its 1,047 registered members voting.

"How did they manage to get so many people to come out and vote? There are about 4,000 members in Kota Kinabalu (Liew's division), but only 300-odd voted," she said.

Sandakan, Libaran as well as other divisions with relatively high turnouts like Tawau and Tenom, were almost 100 percent bagged by Azmin.

In Tawau alone, PKR Youth deputy chief hopeful Chang Lih Kang took all but one out of the 232 votes cast, leaving the single vote to his opponent Khairul Anwar Ahmad Zainuddin.

But according to Libaran division secretary Oting Enchi, the high turnout in Sandakan and Libaran is because transportation was provided by the two divisions.

“Buses and packed food were provided for the members in both divisions,” said Oting, who also acted as an election staff member in Sandakan.

‘If she said we are, then we are'

When contacted for confirmation that a probe is under way, party election committee chairperson Dr Molly Cheah was reluctant to say yes or no.

Pressed further, however, she said: "If Christina Liew says it's under investigation then it is under investigation."

She also remained tightlipped over how many complaints have been lodged with the committee, refusing to say if it is indeed the 162 claimed by Liew and deputy president hopeful Mustaffa Kamil Ayub.

NONE "We cannot reveal everything. If a court investigates you don't go and report everything," Cheah (right ) said in the hurried telephone interview.

However, on Twitter yesterday, Azmin said that Cheah had confirmed that 160 complaints were received from 59 divisions, but were unrelated to the central polls.

Besides the unusually high turnout rates, claims of iregularities have also been made by those campaigning for Zaid Ibrahim, who today officially dropped out of the number two race.

Commenting on Zaid's decision, Azmin had commented that he does not discount the likelihood that the outcome in Sabah was what led his closest rival to finally pull out.