Malaysia’s ruling PKR holds vote that could elevate Anwar’s daughter Nurul Izzah

Nepotism claims and internal rifts cloud contest as Nurul Izzah and her rival Rafizi Ramli vie for party’s deputy leader post

Members of Malaysia’s ruling party cast their votes on Friday in an internal poll which could see Nurul Izzah – the daughter of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim – become deputy leader and put on track for highest political office.

The run-up vote to become No 2 of the People’s Justice Party (PKR) has been clouded by claims of nepotism in forwarding Nurul Izzah, 44, for a deputy role widely seen as a launch pad for party leadership and then a potential tilt at the prime minister’s office.

Critics say the move could cost Anwar support over the optics of building a political dynasty at the expense of real reforms.

About 20,000 delegates will vote across Friday at this year’s congress in southern Johor state, to pick between Nurul Izzah and incumbent deputy president Rafizi Ramli.

The result is due on Friday evening.

“If I suddenly win, my heart may go weak. Because I know the way things have been arranged, the signs are clear that I will lose,” Rafizi said in his last campaign stop in Johor on Tuesday.

Nurul Izzah, a major driving force in her father’s “Reformasi” (reform movement) has dismissed claims of the PKR being a “family party”.

“What has driven me from before was not power or position, but to effect change that can be of benefit to the people,” she said on Thursday in an op-ed run by local news portal Malaysiakini.

Her run for deputy is a chance for a political comeback after losing her parliamentary seat of Permatang Pauh in Penang – previously held by her father – in the 2022 national polls.

Her candidacy, however, has caused deep divisions in a party that was already in discord over numerous complaints of alleged vote rigging for divisional and branch positions at the grass roots level.

Rafizi has offered to resign from cabinet if he loses the party contest.

Anwar, however, brushed aside the growing acrimony in the party, calling it a “competition between our own friends, close associates and acquaintances”.

But concerns of nepotism were not lost on the public, with many taking to social media to repeat the term “Reformati”, a play on Anwar’s reform slogan that includes the Malay word mati which means dead.

The Malaysian public think “there is no real political reform,” said James Chin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania.

The public feud over the party’s deputy presidential race also has not won over any new fans.

“It just looks like a bunch of privileged people fighting for something that I don’t understand,” said roadside burger seller Abidin Mohamad, 28.

“Maybe if they come and buy my burgers, I can sign up as a member,” he said with a laugh.