While PKR mulls adopting an electoral candidate filter, several members are lobbying to push the bar higher by using the Obama presidential staff filter as a benchmark.

pkr supreme council meeting 0404010 fuziah salleh Last month, PKR elections director Fuziah Salleh ( right ) had revealed that the party is developing a criteria list for candidates, in response to the string of defections that has severely dented its image.

While saying she has seen the group’s draft 12-point criteria list, she said the input is only one of many that the party will consider in formulating its filter. 

According to the ‘Obama filter’, election hopefuls will have to be open to a no-holds-barred probe into the past 10 years of his or her life and that of their spouse.

This includes detailed disclosure of professional affiliations, personal relationships, financial and legal status, ideological standpoint and public image.

Of particular interest is any conflict, correspondence, relationship, membership or public statement (including on social media) which can be a “possible source of embarrassment”.

Health, romantic relationships, loans and gifts received above a certain value (or US$50 in the case of the Obama staff filter) will also be put under the microscope.

Other models

The group is refining its list, drawing from the US-based National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) publication on candidate selection.

In the NDI publication, inputs are derived from the likes of Mexico’s Insitutional Revolutionary Party and the British Labour Nationl Parliamentary Panel.

The British panel filters on the basis of party and life experience, knowledge, communications, campaigning, interpersonal and problem-solving skills and the candidate’s personal statement.

The NDI study also advocates an ongoing selection process, similar to the selection process of the African National Congress, which takes about eight months to finalise.

    

For PKR, however, the most immediate hurdle will be the Sarawak polls where its filter will be tested for the first time, even though it is not expected to be finalised by then.

The Sarawak election must be called  by next May.