SARIKEI: Could Julau be the “kingmaker” in the race between Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Rafizi Ramli for the post of PKR deputy president?
With 13,000 members, Julau is one of the branches with the most number of members in Sarawak.
Julau member of parliament Larry Sng, when met, said the branch had targeted 7,000 members casting their vote when the state goes to the ballot box in the part election on Nov 10.
Sng, who has openly declared that he is in Rafizi’s camp, admitted that he would do all he can to get his supporters to vote come Saturday.
“We will see who wins on Saturday. Let the members decide who becomes our deputy president, vice-presidents and other main posts in the party.
“With so many members (in Julau), for sure their votes will play a role in the outcome,” he said.
On the current trend in the party elections, Sng said between 20 and 50 per cent of members in each branch had cast their votes so far.
Julau, he said, was aiming to have more than that.
Sng said there were some who raised concerns about the recent sudden increase in membership in Julau, citing possible problems with the voting process.
However, he said he was confident there would not be any problems.
“Yes, there may be some who will have to fill up Form 11, for ‘doubtful votes’, but I believe that their ballots will be accepted,” he said.
(Doubtful votes are votes which the election committee may have some doubts about. These votes are not counted until the committee can verify that the member concerned is indeed an eligible voter.)
On preparations for Saturday, Sng said he was confident that the central and state election committees would be able to do their jobs efficiently.
“They have already identified the voting centres, so I don’t think there will be any problems come the day,” he said after attending a dialogue session with small-scale industry and farmers from the Sarikei Division.
On security, Snd said he had already been in contact with police and Rela to ensure there were no problems such as what had happened in Keningau, Sabah, on Saturday.
“The people of Julau are part of a community which is always calm, always peaceful. But, with the spotlight on it now, I am sure that many (party) leaders and members from the peninsula will be coming here to ensure their ‘camps’ come out on top. So, we need to be prepared,” he said.