PKR central election committee chief Johari Abdul has defended the controversial results of the party election at the Pensiangan division in Sabah.

He said there are only 77 ballot papers that were in dispute, which is not enough to overturn newly elected PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s majority even if he awarded all of the votes to his closest contender, Amirudin Shari.

“Nik Nazmi has a majority of 250 (votes). Even if I give all 77 (ballot papers) in dispute in Pensiangan to Amirudin, Nik Nazmi still has a majority of 173 (votes). Face the facts!” he said in a speech the PKR congress today before calling the new PKR leadership to take the stage as part of a handover ceremony.

He added that he was saddened when some of the new Youth wing exco members appeared to have boycotted Nik Nazmi ( left ), and that former Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin had made allegations of money politics in Pensiangan.

The votes from the Pensiangan division were the last to be tallied in the PKR election. A week prior to the announcement of the party election results and before the votes were added to the final tally, Amirudin was leading in the Youth chief race by just 40 votes.

In the final tally however, Nik Nazmi won the post while Amirudin’s running mate Afif Bahardin become the deputy Youth chief.

Yesterday, several exco members from Amirudin’s camp walked out of the PKR Youth Congress just before a group photo session and Nik Nazmi’s maiden speech as Youth chief, which Afif told Malaysiakini was due to dissatisfaction over Pensiangan.

“Upon investigation,” Johari said in explaining the vote in Pensiangan, “there were elements used by certain parties to cloud our eyes...

“I don’t want to go into details, but believe (us) that the central election committee never favoured any group. We try our best to ensure that the election is transparent and fair.”