Zaliha rebuts Rafizi's claims over PKR election system vendor

Summary

• PKR election committee chairperson Dr Zaliha Mustafa dismisses Rafizi Ramli’s claim that the party’s election system vendor was appointed without proper discussion, calling the allegations baseless.

• She clarifies that the vendor's appointment was discussed at both the political bureau and central leadership council levels, with the incumbent deputy president failing to voice any objections at the time.

• The same app used during divisional polls - which saw several of Rafizi’s allies losing - will be used at the upcoming central elections.

PKR election committee chairperson Dr Zaliha Mustafa dismissed allegations by incumbent deputy president Rafizi Ramli regarding the appointment of a vendor for the party’s election system.

In an apparent effort to clear the air over repeated accusations against the party’s election system ahead of its central polls, Zaliha stressed the vendor’s appointment was discussed at the party’s political bureau level and during central leadership council meetings.

“I can still remember that Rafizi did not challenge the appointment of the vendor to implement (PKR’s) voting system. He was mostly questioning the auditor’s appointment, (but) nothing was said about the vendor.

“Why now, only after the completion of the divisional polls, are there suddenly disputes over the vendor’s appointment? To me, it just doesn’t sync,” Zaliha said in a video uploaded on her social media pages.

Labelling Rafizi’s claims as “baseless”, she also urged against dragging the PKR election committee into clashes against contenders for the party’s posts.

She added that the committee will endeavour to remain an independent body to ensure the fairness and transparency of the elections.

Previously, Rafizi claimed the decision to appoint the vendor for PKR’s online election system was made without consultation or discussion with PKR’s political bureau, alleging that the decision was made discreetly before any formal talk of party elections.

Asserting that he possesses a copy of the vendor’s letter of appointment dated before the matter was brought to the bureau or central leadership, the economy minister and Pandan MP said he was the “first” to question the issue.

Same application to be used

Meanwhile, Zaliha noted that the same Adil application used in the PKR divisional polls a month ago - which saw several of Rafizi’s key allies losing - will be used at the party congress this weekend.

She noted that while the application was used after the 2022 party election to manage membership, PKR secretary-general Fuziah Salleh proposed improvements to the system, including 26 additional modules.

Zaliha said there were two meetings held over the decision to use the application for the 2025 party election, with the second round of discussions featuring an agreement to proceed with online and physical voting.

Rafizi is in a straight fight with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, for the party’s deputy presidency.

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