Two prominent former Malaysian ministers yesterday announced that they would vacate their parliamentary seats and resign from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Justice Party (PKR) to take over the leadership of a minor political party.
Former Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli and former Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad announced yesterday that they planned to take over the leadership of the fringe Malaysian United Party and took part in a symbolic handover ceremony involving the party’s founder, Tan Gin Theam.
Speaking at a press conference later yesterday, Rafizi said that he and Nik Nazmi had decided to vacate their seats in order to avoid accusations of “party-hopping,” which was previously rife in Malaysian politics before being made illegal in late 2022. With the current parliamentary term already more than three years in, their seats – in the Pandan and Setiawangsa constituencies in peninsular Malaysia – are set to remain vacant until the next general election and will be filled via by-elections.
While the vacating of the seats will not impact Anwar’s parliamentary majority, the departure of the two leaders could pose a political challenge for the Malaysian leader further down the road. Rafizi had formerly served as deputy president under Anwar, and was seen for a time as a potential successor. However, he became sharply critical of Anwar’s leadership since he and Nik Nazmi lost their PKR leadership positions in an internal party vote in May of last year – an event that prompted the pair to resign from Anwar’s cabinet.
