NEWS ANALYSIS As nominations for the top PKR leadership posts come to a close, all eyes are now turned on former party secretary-general Khalid Ibrahim and deputy presidency aspirant Zaid Ibrahim.

As one of the earliest members to state his intentions in the party polls, Zaid ( above ) had gone back on his pledge to stay out of the party polls and announced that he would vie for "that position" should Khalid stay out of the fray.

Though he never mentioned it explicitly, it was widely assumed that Zaid was referring to the deputy presidency.

Now that Khalid had received at least four nominations to go for the post, coupled by his successful retention of his position as Kuala Selangor division chief, he is believed to be mulling joining the race.

Khalid has been cool on the subject and while encouraging the Kuala Selangor division not to nominate him for the deputy presidency, said that this did not rule him out from contesting as he already had enough nominations to qualify.

Should Khalid accept nominations for the deputy presidency, this will definitely put the spotlight on Zaid - and whether he would honour his "promise" to make way for Khalid.

nik nazmi nik ahmad book launch 210310 03 Though it still depends on Khalid to officially throw his hat into the contest, which also includes Azmin Ali and Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, several PKR leaders contacted are split over Zaid's potential reaction.

"He did say that he will stay out of Khalid's way, but later justified his bid for the post with a lot of different reasons . So you will have to ask him personally," said PKR supreme council member Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad ( left ), in his personal capacity.

Others believe that Zaid, whose backers pitch him as a "man of principles", will have no choice but to keep his promise, rather than break that image.

Common ground with Khalid

"I think he will keep to his word. He shares a lot of common ground with Khalid," said Shariffuddin Budin, who is a key player in the Selangor Keadilan Leadership Consensus Council, better known by its Malay acronym Muafakat .

khalid ibrahim Most notably, Zaid shares a commonality with Khalid ( left ) in their rivalry with Azmin, who is now Selangor PKR chief and vice-president of the party.

As such, the likely theory is that should Zaid pull out, the bulk of his votes would be diverted to Khalid and thus mounting a credible challenge against Azmin, who is still the favourite.

It is an open secret that Azmin is at odds with Khalid's leadership of the Selangor government and has openly criticised the menteri besar during state legislative assembly meetings.

Though receiving only a handful of nominations compared with about three dozen received by Zaid, Khalid is seen as a credible challenger to Azmin.

"Many call Zaid a maverick and not much of a team player, while Azmin is branded as being overambitious. Khalid on the other hand has a proven track record as an efficient menteri besar of Selangor.

pkr national congress 301108 azmin ali "Then again, Khalid has often been criticised as being hard-headed and should he win the deputy president's post, he would be even more hard-headed," said one Selangor division leader on condition of anonymity.

Azmin ( right ), Zaid and Khalid are all heavyweights based in Selangor, which holds the bulk of PKR members who will be voting in direct elections starting at the end of this month.

If Khalid gets in the mix and becomes the "third force", votes from Selangor are expected to be split, thus intensifying the campaign in other states.

Khalid's announcement soon

azlan However, Azmin, Zaid and Mustafa have all offered themselves as candidates for the deputy presidency long beforehand and this is likely to give them an advantage.

Khalid is believed to be interested in the job, but waited for the Kuala Selangor division elections before making any concrete decision.

It was widely speculated that Khalid was in danger of losing his position in Kuala Selangor due to grassroots disgruntlement, but in the end he retained the post last night, with a convincing majority.

A loss would have been a disaster for Khalid because it would have put his position as menteri besar in jeopardy. He is expected to announce his candidacy, either for deputy or vice-presidency, later this week.

The official list of candidates for the central leadership positions will be announced on Sunday.