Anwar now officially PKR president

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. -filepic

PETALING JAYA: After spending eight years behind bars, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, 70, was officially declared the next PKR president when he won uncontested in the party polls.

Anwar replaces his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who has held the position since the party was founded in 1999.

The nomination papers were filed by party strategic director Sim Tze Tzin on behalf of Anwar at 11.15am on Sunday (Aug 5) at the party's headquarters.

As of 5pm, there were no party hopefuls who nominated themselves to run for the PKR presidency.

Anwar was previously the PKR de facto leader, a position he held since the party was formed nearly 20 years ago.

This puts an end to immense speculation that Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali would contest the presidency, a move which political pundits said could cause wars between factions in the party.

Earlier, Azmin’s representatives sent his nomination form for the deputy presidency position at about 4.45pm.

This means that Azmin is set to face off with Rafizi Ramli, who is also eyeing the deputy president's position.

In 1998, Anwar was accused of abuse of power when he was the deputy prime minister and protege to the then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Following the charge, Dr Mahathir sacked Anwar from Cabinet and this triggered the formation of PKR and the reformasi movement. Anwar was found guilty and sentenced to jail in 1999, but was released in 2004 after the verdict was overturned.

In 2008, Anwar was accused of sodomising a male political aide but he was acquitted by the High Court in 2012. However, the acquittal was overturned by the Court of Appeal in March 2014.

Anwar was sentenced to another five-year jail term for sodomy, which barred him from contesting in the 14th General Election.

Despite that, Anwar remained PKR's de facto leader and played a role from behind bars.

Following Pakatan Harapan’s landmark victory in GE14, Anwar was freed due to a full and immediate pardon by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.

Anwar’s grand return to politics will require him to contest a parliamentary seat, a move which he has remained coy about.

The PKR party polls will see more than 900,000 members casting their votes. It is set to begin in September and will run for nine weeks.