PETALING JAYA, April 10 – PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail(Pic) has struck a poser by her absence at meetings of the three parties of the opposition pact on the allocation of electoral seats. She has also elected to remain silent on her candidacy in the coming general election and has not confirmed talk that she may contest a state seat in Selangor.
Wan Azizah cannot contest a parliamentary seat because she has yet to complete the mandatory five-year prohibition after having resigned as an MP. She had quit as an MP on July 31, 2008, to enable her husband and PKR advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election and retain the seat for PKR.
Political analysts read her absence at the party meetings as suggesting eroding influence in her role as president and rising trust for Anwar, as the de facto party leader, and PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali. Anwar had said that his wife would not contest in this general election but their daughter and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah said her mother would stand.
The political analysts see the possibility of Wan Azizah contesting a state seat in Selangor. PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told Bernama Wan Azizah had been absent from the meetings because she had been unwell over the past week. Replying to a question, he said she was not too involved in the selection of candidates and had been entrusted with garnering the support of the women voters throughout the country. Rafizi said Wan Azizah might hold a news conference in two or three days.
BERNAMA
