Fresh allegations of de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s involvement in influencing the party polls have today emerged through a leaked letter by PKR Youth chief candidate Badrul Hisham Shahrin to party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

According to the letter, Kota Marudu PKR Youth chief Dr Jurin Gunsalam was informed by his division chief Anthony Mandiau that Anwar had called him to instruct him for whom to vote.

azlan “(Anwar) had ‘instructed’ for support to be given to a certain candidate while another candidate should be rejected,” said Badrul in the letter.

(Last Friday, Anwar explained that he had urged members not to vote for “traitors” .)

While he regretted that the letter has been leaked on blogs today, Badrul admitted that he did write it and had submitted it to Wan Azizah.

“I do not deny that the letter exists. It is a copy of the real letter I had written and is not the first complaint I have submitted on the matter.

“I had written it upon the request of the president after I had met her along with (Pahang PKR liaison committee chairperson Fauzi Abdul Rahman) to hand over the youth resolution ,” he said.

Other allegations made in the four-page complaint include claims that some candidates were allowed to contest even though their names were sent in after the deadline.

“When a verbal complaint was made to the election officer, (the complainant) was asked if he was a supporter (of Badrul Hisham)…A written complaint has since been ignored,” he said.

Polls officer wanted to negotiate splitting votes

Badrul Hisham also claimed that nominations were changed in favour of certain camps.

T NONE he Tampin division, he alleged, had nominated himself and running mate Chang Lih Kang, only to have it changed to their contenders, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin ( left ) and Khairul Anuar Zainuddin.

A letter of complaint on this matter has also thus far elicited no response.

He also alleged that his election agents have reported that the number of people who voted, evident through the number of ballot papers submitted, was higher than the number of people in attendance.

In Kubang Pasu, he noted, the attendance recorded was 70 but there were almost 200 ballot papers in the box.

“This was admitted by the election committee when they had called a representative from (former deputy president candidate) Zaid (Ibrahim’s) camp to negotiate on how to split the total votes. What kind of solution is this?” he asked.

Sandakan and Libaran in spotlight again

The supreme council member added that he had also received a text message from a Sabahan PKR member, who refused to be named, stating that the turnout in Sandakan and Libaran was only about 200, and not as high as recorded.

“(The informant) was hesitant to identify himself as he is afraid of being roughed up by gangsters… claiming that the same had happened (before), and that the gangsters appeared to have received protection from the party,” he said.

Badrul Hisham also questioned the tallying of votes, citing a case in Teluk Intan where a recount was done under pressure from his election agents who felt that something was amiss.

“The total was clearly less than the original count… Our (election agents) had managed to trace and curb these efforts (to rig votes), but I imagine there were many that we missed,” he said, adding that in Tuaran ballot papers without the official seal were considered valid.

He added that the votes for Sandakan and Libaran were not tallied at the polling centre and that the candidates’ agents were not allowed to be present during the counting process.

“I urge that immediate action be taken, and that the results from Kubang Pasu, Libaran, Sandakan and Batu Sapi be suspended and that another round of polling be conducted for these divisions.

“I am adhering to party discipline by using internal means to make this complaint (but) it is as if I have been pushed to the wall. As a member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, I am seeking keadilan (justice),” he said.

Badrul Hisham had early on in the polling process called for the polls to be suspended until all irregularities have been investigated and rectified.

It is understood that unofficial results show that Badrul had closely lost to Shamsul in his bid for the youth chief position in the controversial first time direct elections which concluded yesterday.