KUALA SELANGOR, June 5 —  The clergy class, or ulama, trounced party progressives in a near-total takeover of PAS last night, winning 22 out of the 23 posts open for contest in the Islamist party’s central working committee

The watershed win saw PAS’s powerful incumbent president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang back at the helm of the 64-year-old Islamist party that was for the past few months wracked by a so-called faction war that had even threatened a split in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal opposition pact.

Hadi, who has held his post unchallenged since 2002, blazed to the finish line in the presidential race far ahead of his challenger, former vice-president Ahmad Awang, who snapped up a mere 233 votes to the former’s 928.

All 22 of the ulama members elected were in the “cai”, or “menu”, of candidates endorsed by the party’s influential clergy wing during its muktamar, or annual congress, on Wednesday.

In addition, representatives of the conservative faction also swept the posts of Youth and Muslimat chief, with Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz, the son of the late spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, and Nuridah Salleh grabbing the posts in their wings’ respective elections earlier this week.

Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamad was re-elected ulama wing chief uncontested.

Nuridah was the only name in the “cai” who did not make it into the 18-man central working committee. She was edged by Mazlan Aliman, an activist with a Felda pressure group.

The Ulama members who received over 700 votes from the 1,162 voters were Nasruddin Hasan, Dr Ridhuan Mohd Noor Datuk Mohd Nasruddin Daud, Sallehen Mukhyi, Datuk Dr Nik Zawawi Salleh, Datuk Dr Khairuddin Aman Razali, and Datuk Dr Mohamed Fadzli Hasan.

New inclusions included Norazli Musa, who heads the pro-ulama group “Geng Ustaz Cintakan Ulama”, and Zaharuddin Muhammad, Hadi’s son-in-law.

Among the progressives who were kicked out from the committee were Dr Mohd Hatta Md Ramli, Khalid Samad, Hanipa Maidin, Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The results were announced by PAS elections director Asmuni Awi last night, over three hours after the voting was closed.

A total of 1,162 out of the 1,189 delegates present had voted yesterday.

Prior to the elections, Mahfodz had urged PAS delegates to renew the party’s top leadership by choosing those who are compatible with the Islamist party’s “captain”, which he named as Hadi.

In the run up to the polls, several party members including PAS research centre’s Dr Zuhdi Ahmad had accused the so-called progressive faction of trying to topple Abdul Hadi in order to turn PAS to DAP’s “whipping boys” in PR, or start a splinter party should its attempt in the internal polls next week fails.

The near-total wipeout of PAS’s progressive leaders will now cast a spotlight on the future of PR’s loose three-party alliance, with the DAP having recently severed all ties with Hadi over his insistence on implementing hudud in Kelantan.