SHAH ALAM, Nov 24 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim indicated today he is unlikely to challenge his wife and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in an answer to calls from delegates to officially take over the party’s leadership, saying he is presently having the time of his life.

The Permatang Pauh MP was asked if he would vie for the top post in the party elections that is expected to be held next year, after a Selangor delegate pleaded for Anwar to take charge of the controls directly as PKR’s prime minister candidate.

“I’m enjoying myself now, why should I?” he shot back at reporters who approached him for comment as he walked out of PKR’s special congress here.

PKR deputy president Azmin Ali said Anwar's current position was created to cope with a restriction that barred him from politics upon his release from prison in 2004.

"He has given his best leadership as soon as he was released, but before this, the party was formed in 1999, if Datuk Seri was outside he would certainly have been the party president.

"In 2004, he was released, there were laws that blocked him, so we brought a special motion in Seremban for us to place him as the ketua umum," Azmin told reporters, using the Malay term meaning "de facto leader" when doorstopped after the event.

But now Anwar is free to take up posts in PKR as the restriction on his participation in politics has been removed, Azmin noted.

"Now the obstacle is no longer there, it means he can actively hold position and provide a strong and clear leadership in PKR and PR, that's the sentiment among PKR," the Gombak MP said.

Under both the old party constitution and its amendments, the deputy president would immediately fill up the post of party president once it becomes vacant.

Earlier today, a Selangor PKR delegate Amirudin Shaari had asked Anwar to lead the opposition party in an official capacity rather than the de facto status he enjoys now as adviser.

Amirudin said there was a need to ensure clarity in the party’s leadership structure, indicating that it was time for Anwar to take up an elected position in the party.

“I ask Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the leader that will be the prime minister of Malaysia, to lead the party officially,” Amirudin said to loud claps of approval from the 800-odd delegates present at PKR’s special congress here.

It is unclear what Amirudin meant by his call for Anwar to officially lead the party, with the former deputy prime minister’s wife Wan Azizah currently helming the party.

Wan Azizah has held the post of party president since PKR was formed in 1999.

Amirudin had recounted how Anwar — a former Umno leader — was only able to lead the party in spirit when he was imprisoned in 1999.

The PKR special congress, which recorded a turnout of 885 delegates, today voted unanimously to a list of changes to the party constitution.

The amendments will have to be approved by the RoS before they can take effect.