PKR has accepted the resignation of Zaid Ibrahim, but considers that it takes immediate effect.

This is despite Zaid's announcement that it would only take effect on Dec 16 .

"This is a political NONE party, not like working at TV3, for example, so there is no contract of employment," said secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution.

"We are nice people. He wants to quit so we are fulfilling his intention, so it will be easier for him to take the next step."

He said the political party had reached the decision at a meeting yesterday, but that this does not amount to a dismissal as Zaid had expressed his intention to resign.

"According to the party constitution one can lose his membership if he is sacked or if he sends a letter of resignation, and Zaid sent one," he said.

zaid ibrahim Zaid (right) , the former PKR Federal Territories chief, can appeal the decision to have the resignation take effect on Nov 19 when the letter was received.

Saifuddin also said that "close to 30,000 members" out of some 400,000 members from 218 divisions had voted in the central leadership polls which concluded yesterday.

"The turnout (for the final round of polling) yesterday was 13.56 percent," he said.

However, h wang maju pkr election 2010 01 131010 e could not say if this is good or bad since the party does not have a benchmark to compare it against. PKR is the country’s first political party to hold direct elections to elect its new leaders.

Commenting on allegations of irregularities, Saifuddin said there were indeed leaked ballot papers as has been reported - but that the papers were part of "reserves" and were not those distributed to the divisions.

"Suppose Kelana Jaya has 5,000 members, we will distribute 3,000 first and keep 2,000 as reserves.

“We can trace them based on the serial numbers and we are investigating this," he said, refusing the reveal which divisions were involved and the number of ballot papers involved.

Saifuddin’s annoyance

He then denied a Malaysiakini report that police had escorted the ballot boxes from Puchong to party headquarters due to a tussle .

"What happened was just that tensions were high, which is expected as it was the final round of polling," he said, adding that the votes were tallied in Puchong.

He further took issue with the headline stating that ‘rowdy scenes’ had occurred at certain divisions.

"Rowdy means that violence occurred. Well, thank you very much," said Saifuddin who had been uncontactable yesterday for comment.

Election committee NONE secretary Radin Shamsulkamar (left) , however, confirmed that several "ring leaders" had blocked the vehicle carrying ballot papers in Hulu Selangor, resulting in shoving and shouting.

Speaking to Malaysiakini on the sidelines of the press conference, he said they will be probed for breaching party discipline.

Saifuddin, who was visibly annoyed, also tore apart claims that the Ayer Itam division had refused to hold its polls saying that its formation is not even at pro-tem stage and so it should not be holding a poll.

He added that the Tanjung Piai division division, which also has pro-tem status, has 51 members and not one as reported by Star.