The contest for the post of PKR deputy president is emerging as a two-horse race between incumbent vice-president Azmin Ali and Pakatan Rakyat coordinator Zaid Ibrahim.

They are alternating between being neck-and-neck and taking the lead in this intense direct election exercise.

After reports emerged yesterday that Azmin had overtaken Zaid (left) by more than 700 votes, PKR headquarters this morning released on its website the official tally of the elections up to yesterday.

Based on this, Z zaid azmin pkr party election 220910 aid netted 3,683 votes to Azmin's 3,051. However, the data turned out to be erroneous, causing red faces in the secretariat as reporters questioned the discrepancy at a press conference this morning.

Secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution verified this afternoon that Azmin is in the lead with 3,051 votes to Zaid's 2,529.

Azmin is leading by 522 votes after members of 68 divisions cast their vote to date for the top posts in the party, including the Wanita and Youth wings.

The third candidate for deputy president - Perak PKR chief Mustaffa Kamil Ayub - has polled 1,149 votes.

Saifuddin, in explaining the discrepancy between the data on the website and in the vote-count, said it was due to miscalculation of the outcome from some 20 divisions whose results were obtained via phone.

“We have double-checked the figure and feel this is the actual current result. There have been complaints from both Zaid’s and Azmin's camps,  resulting in a recheck. The discrepancy is as a result of human error, we deny any wrongdoing,” he said.

“Contestants and members should treat the weekly briefing held by me to be the  current results. These results will only be made official after the election process of all 218 divisions has been tallied.”

Saifuddin said each NONE division must return its ‘voters tallying results form' to the headquarters for the official result to be verified.

Over the last three days of voting, the secretariat has received 10 complaints. The majority were about officials arriving late at the polling stations, or that the ballot boxes did not have a cover.

“We promised to rectify any mistakes in the coming weeks. Contestants and members should treat my weekly press conference on the results to be the official channel of the election results,” he said.

PKR, is holding the country’s first direct elections for party posts, with 400,000 members nationwide taking part in the exercise.

Tian Chua, Nurul lead for veeps

In a surprising turn of events, director of strategy Tian Chua has taken the lead in the contest for the four vice-presidential seats with 3,621 votes. He is ahead of his nearest competitor Nurul Izzah Anwar by 78 votes.

In third spot currently is Fuziah Salleh, who has 2,895 votes. She is followed closely by Mansor Othman with 2,852, and N Gobalakrishnan with 2,080 votes.

Others in the vice-presid azlan ential race are:

Dr Xavier Jayakumar - 1,679

R Sivarasa - 1,553

Suresh Kumar Ramachandran - 1,237

Yahya Sahri  - 1,178

Baru Bian - 659

Ansari Abdullah - 646

Jonson Chong - 626

Yusmadi Yusoff - 615

S Manikavasagam - 492

Dominique Ng - 284

Saiman Marjuki - 166

James Ghani - 106

A total of 132 individuals are contesting the 20 seats in the supreme council.

In the Youth wing, incumbent Shamsul Iskandar Akin has been overtaken by Badrul Hisham Shaharin by 104 votes.

Chegubard - as Badrul Hisham is popularly known as - has chalked up 1,133 votes against Shamsul Iskandar's 1,029.

For deputy Youth chief, Khairul Anuar leads with 1,214 votes against Chang Lih Kang, who has 833 votes.

In the Wanita wing, incumbent chief Zuraida Kamaruddin is in the lead with 1,160 votes, followed by Animah Ferrar (408) and Suraya Sudin (403).

The deputy head’s post sees Rodziah Ismail in the lead with 1,400 votes against 414 obtained by Asmah Abd Kadir.