COMMENT | PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali is in the lead in his race for re-election against Rafizi Ramli.

In Penang, Azmin won 3,326 votes to Rafizi’s 3,150, and in Johor, Azmin won 4,503 votes to Rafizi’s 3,976. The total to date should thus be 7,829 for Azmin and 7,126.

It’s very early yet, and this is obviously by no means an unassailable lead. Azmin’s early momentum may allow us to speculate on a few things (and importantly, speculation is all this is).

One of the most interesting things about PKR’s elections is that it is the only political party in which every single member is given a vote.

This was welcomed as a great step forward in terms of democratic principles and rightly so.

One possible reason PKR president designate Anwar Ibrahim spearheaded the transition to this novel and laudable system was a belief that his own personal popularity within the party would be largely able to sway votes whichever way he wanted.

It is possible that this is not playing out a hundred percent the way Anwar envisaged....