KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has gone through another change in its leadership line-up following intense internal party elections on May 24. With the party’s top leaders in place, PKR has quite a hill to climb in retaining influence in the unity government and keeping the country’s top political job.

The anchor party of the Malaysian federal government elected Nurul Izzah Anwar as the deputy president, defeating former Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli. Leaders aligned with Nurul Izzah also dominated the newly elected central leadership council. Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad also failed to defend his vice-president post. Both Rafizi and Nik Nazmi resigned from the Cabinet just days after the PKR elections.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who won the party presidency unopposed, swiftly rejected claims of nepotism following his daughter’s victory, arguing that Nurul Izzah was democratically elected by PKR members. Despite the predictable outrage expressed on social media by supporters of Rafizi and complaints of electoral irregularities, the party will likely recover from the divisive elections.

This was not the first time PKR had to go through an intense contest for the deputy presidency. The position has been contested at every party election since 2010. Nurul Izzah is also a popular figure within the party; she had consistently won the highest number of votes for the vice-president post at every party election from 2010 to 2018.

But the PKR’s focus should not be on internal elections.

The party’s biggest challenge is maintaining its position in the unity government coalition and ensuring that Anwar is re-elected as prime minister.

This challenge was acknowledged by Nurul Izzah’s and Rafizi’s campaigns. As it stands, there are clouds on PKR’s horizon.

ANCHOR PARTY BY CIRCUMSTANCES

Despite its leadership position in the unity government, PKR has only 31 seats in the 222...