ANALYSIS At midnight, nominations for the PAS party election slated for this June will close.

However, the battle has been raging since 2009 between the pro-Pakatan Rakyat progressive faction against the Islamist ulama.

The progressive faction's main agenda is to capture Putrajaya whereas the ulama place higher priority on PAS' Islamic agenda, which includes controversial matters, even though not politically strategic.

In this year's party polls in Kuala Selangor, the pro-Pakatan group faces a difficult task taking on the ulama, who have captured the delegates’ attention with their goal to revive the image of the ulama leadership.

In fact, this time, pressure from this faction started from the grassroots, who have successfully toppled several pro-Pakatan leaders during the division polls.

Among the 'lions' who have been tamed by the ulama include former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

Nizar ( photo ) led the Kampar PAS division for 14 years, but was defeated during the division polls by a relatively unknown ulama named Mohd Sofian Rejab.

Division chief controls bloc votes

Control over the grassroots, also gives the ulama an upper hand, as they can now vote in blocs during the main party polls.

This is because the five votes from each division will be determined by the leanings of the division chiefs, who will most likely provide a 'chai tan' (faction list) to guide the voters.

"The nomination trend favours the ulama, They will vote in blocs. This is a new trend that wasn't so obvious before.

"We see that they will vote (leaders) from one faction, there is a list. The progressives will be TKO'ed (knocked out)," a PAS political observer told Malaysiakini .

Besides this, the ulama also have a more orderly plan to take on what has been dubbed the 'dirtiest' PAS elections ever.

They have for example taken full advantage of party events for campaign purposes, including the party's anti-GST rally in Padang Merbok earlier this month.

Campaigning at national and state PAS ulama 'multaqas' (conventions) have also played a key role via resolutions to strengthen the party's ulama leadership.

The ulama are even winning the psychological war on social media as only a few progressives are vocal in criticising PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's leadership.

"(The progressives) have no leadership. They have no vision (for now). Ahmad Awang (who received the required nominations to contest the top post) seems to be alone. (The progressives) do not seem united

"They are only waiting to be beaten. We will wait and see," another source told Malaysiakini .

DAP pressure only helping Hadi

Even external factors like DAP's incessant attacks against Hadi do not seem to be weakening the ulama.

The attacks on Hadi, the worst in his 13 years helming PAS, have only caused concern that the party's pride is being trampled on by DAP.

This puts pressure on the pro-Pakatan faction as they must be seen to be 'patriotic' and not in cahoots with DAP, who always had a problem with PAS' Islamist agenda.

This will translate into sympathy votes, which will give Hadi an advantage. His ailing health has already been gaining sympathy.

This was reflected in the strong number of nominations Hadi has received, even though Ahmad Awang has been touted as a serious contender.

The progressive faction however doesn't think sympathy will be a factor, viewing this coming muktamar as simply a clash of ideologies within PAS.