PKR vice-president backs Anwar-Azmin combination to lead party

PETALING JAYA: PKR vice-president Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin threw his weight behind Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Azmin Ali to lead PKR.

He said the time had come for Anwar to lead the party, confidentthat the Anwar-Azmin team would be feared by the Opposition.

“Anwar’s contesting the presidency has long been awaited by the Reformasi movement’s grassroots.

“As its pioneer, it is only fair for Anwar to lead PKR and ensure its agenda can be carried out,” Shamsul Iskandar said in a statement.

The PKR vice-president added Anwar’s experience in politics suffices to make him party president and Prime Minister-in-waiting.

As for Azmin, Shamsul Iskandar said his loyalty to the Reformasi movement was beyond reproach, having never strayed from the struggle and going on to become the Selangor Mentri Besar, leading the state towards excellence.

“He is now the Economic Affairs Minister, a key portfolio under the Pakatan Harapan administration.

“The breadth of these two leaders’ experience will provide great value to PKR.

“They are also needed to carry out the Reformasi agenda as the basis for government policies when Anwar takes over from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad,” Shamsul Iskandar said.

When asked about the decision by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli to contest the deputy presidency in the party’s coming elections, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is PKR president, said: “We have democratic rights.”

Dr Wan Azizah has said that there is only “one camp” in the party amid a potential showdown in the upcoming party polls.

“We need old and new faces; the combination is important,” she told journalists while campaigning for PKR’s candidate in the Sungai Kandis by-election.