PKR's Azmin Ali appears to be sustaining momentum in his bid to retain the party's deputy presidency as preliminary results indicate he has won most of the votes in the second round of voting over last weekend.

 

According to unofficial results obtained by  Malaysiakini  from party insiders, Azmin bagged three of five states that were up for grabs on May 3 and 4.

 

As of 2pm today with votes from only a few more divisions not yet counted for round two, Azmin is leading with 7,620 votes to rivals Abdul Khalid Ibrahim with 5,023 votes and Saifuddin Nasution with 3,962 votes.

 

This is on top of votes garnered during round one of voting on April 26 and 27 when Sarawak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor and Malacca went to the polls and Azmin emerged ahead.

 

Official results in round one showed Azmin, who is also Gombak MP, garnered a total of 5,111 votes followed by Saifuddin ( right) with 2,322 votes and Abdul Khalid with 2,228 votes.

 

Sabah, Kedah, Perlis, Perak and Penang were the states that went the polls in the latest round of voting over the last weekend.

 

Of this, preliminary results showed Azmin had won Sabah, Perlis and Perak.

 

In Perak, where all votes have been counted, Azmin is believed to have won 1,777 votes - 46 percent of the total votes, to Abdul Khalid with 1,484 votes (39 percent) and Saifuddin with 585 votes (15 percent).

 

Likewise, in Perlis where counting is completed, Azmin won 70 votes (51 percent) to Abdul Khalid's 45 votes (33 percent) and Saifuddin's 22 votes (10 percent).

 

Unassailable lead

Counting in Sabah had not yet ended as of 2pm today, but Azmin has an unassailable lead with votes in 21 of 24 divisions already counted.

 

At time of writing, Azmin had bagged 3,795 votes (57 percent) in Sabah compared to Khalid ( right ) and Saifuddin who received 2,242 votes (33 percent) and 639 votes (10 percent) respectively.

 

In Penang, Azmin lost to Saifuddin who garnered 1,572 votes (42 percent) as opposed to his 1,315 votes (35 percent). Abdul Khalid merely won 820 votes (22 percent).

 

Saifuddin's strength is Penang is likely due to proximity to his home state, where the Kedahan also appears to be winning with votes in 12 of 15 divisions already counted as of 2pm.

 

Saifuddin, who is also incumbent party secretary-general, gathered 1,144 votes (51 percent) in Kedah, ahead of Azmin Ali with 663 votes (30 percent) and Khalid with 432 votes (19 percent).

Surprisingly, after round two of voting, Abdul Khalid, who is Selangor menteri besar, is now ahead of Saifuddin in the overall standings.

 

Abdul Khalid fared better than Saifuddin in Perak, Sabah and Perlis in this round. Notably, former Perak PKR chief Mustafa Kamil Ayub is aligned to Abdul Khalid.

 

The last round of voting will take place on May 10 and 11 where the Federal Territories, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor will go to the polls.

 

The bulk of the votes for the final showdown is expected to come from Selangor, where Khalid and Azmin have constantly clashed.