JOHOR BARU, Nov 13 — Newly-elected Johor Baru PKR chief Akmal Nasrullah Nasir has claimed that about 20,000 votes have "systematically disappeared” in the party elections for the deputy president’s post.

He said in a statement that the party leadership must look into the missing votes to ensure that the new leadership that will hold office until 2021, is truly chosen by party members.

He claimed that he had conducted an analysis of the polls and it showed that there was data deliberately deleted in certain branches that impacted the overall results of the party polls.

Akmal, who is also Johor Baru MP, said that he had found that there was a difference of about 20,000 votes cast and the number of votes garnered by the candidates for the deputy president’s post and the other positions in the central leadership.

"For the analysis, I focused on votes for the deputy president’s post. The findings are that as many as 8,926 votes in just 17 branches were lost. Overall, missing votes only happened in certain states at a rate of 20 per cent to 35 per cent in 40 branches, as though the results were deleted systematically and selectively,” he said.

Akmal, who is also the Johor Baru MP, explained that his analysis was based on the information collected after the announcement made by the party’s central election committee (JPP) at each polling centre, as well as the results uploaded on the party’s election website.

"The votes for the deputy president’s post and that of the central leadership can be considered to have gone missing systematically and selectively because this only started to happen in the fourth week of the polls affecting only certain states and branches,” he said.

He said the affected states were Sabah, Kedah, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Melaka. He added that the highest number of lost votes were recorded in Sabah and Selangor, where the 17 branches mentioned are located.

Apart from the issue of missing votes, Akmal also stressed that the party’s political bureau leaders need to ensure that each doubtful vote cast are reviewed and taken into account as it may affect the overall results.

He also voiced his support for the suspended Julau party elections to be held again.

Akmal’s claim came hours after a contender for the deputy president’s post, Rafizi Ramli, highlighted weaknesses in the electronic voting used in the party elections that he claimed hampered his bid to challenge incumbent deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.

Yesterday, PKR central election committee chairman Datuk Rashid Din was reported as saying that Azmin has taken the lead, but is yet to officially win the race for the party deputy president’s post.

On Sunday, Azmin’s camp announced that the Economic Affairs Minister had defeated former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli and won the deputy president post in the party elections.

According to the unofficial results uploaded on Pemilihan Keadilan 2018 account, Azmin garnered 70,550 votes while Rafizi received 66,594 votes.

The vote-tallying process and the election results of several divisions would be completed before the PKR National Congress 2018 takes place from November 16 to 18.