 PETALING JAYA: PKR must move away from personality clashes, said the party’s vice-president candidate in the upcoming party polls Rafizi Ramli.The Pandan MP was far from coy when asked why he, with outgoing secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution and incumbent vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, were campaigning hand-in-hand for their respective posts. At a press conference today, Rafizi said that the upcoming party polls must remain true to why PKR was in the political scene in the first place, which is to uplift the rakyat. “That is why we have to move away from personality clashes. Everyone knows about the clash between Azmin Ali and Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim. “And the situation is unhealthy. It does not help the rakyat. Ultimately for the party election, the real winners must be the rakyat,” he said. Azmin will be trying to retain his deputy presidency in the party polls and he is set to be challenged by Khalid, Saifuddin and three others, including incumbent vice president Tian Chua. Admitting that his decision to band with Saifuddin and Nurul Izzah could be considered as ‘political suicide’, he reiterated that it was high time for the party to move away from the constant clashes in the party. When asked about his chances of winning, Rafizi said that the party itself was born as a party that never calculates its chances. “If we constantly calculate our chances, we would not stand a chance at all as evidenced when we first started and the 2004 general election. “Even I, myself, would not stand a chance at all since I did not have any political background. However, the party has historically shown, that whoever you are, you will have a place in the party,” he said. This is the first time Rafizi is contesting for any posts in the party. The vice presidential race will witness a 16-cornered fight between incumbents Fuziah Salleh, N Surendran, Mansor Othman, Nurul Izzah and Tian Chua defending their posts respectively and members Rafizi, Baru Bian, Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, R Suresh Kumar, Elizabeth Wong, N Shanmugam, Streram Sinnasamy, Mohd Yahya Shahri, Lee Chin Cheh, Shamsul Iskandar Mh Akin and Xavier Jeyakumar. Under the PKR constitution, there are four vice president slots , of which one must be reserved for Sabah and Sarawak leaders. The party can appoint another three more vice presidents.
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