Former Malaysian ministers Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (left) and Rafizi Ramli pose in front of the party logo of the Malaysian United Party (Parti Bersama Malaysia) during an event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 17, 2026.
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.
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.
As Channel News Asia reported, Rafizi has “since accused Anwar of surrounding himself with ‘yes-men,’ protecting vested interests, and failing to deliver on the reforms that once defined PKR.”.
“Our aspiration is to offer a political platform to like-minded citizens who believe that political power belongs to the people, not to politicians,” Rafizi said during the event.
Nik Nazmi also criticized the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, of which the P)KR is the leading component, accusing it of fearmongering by warning voters that the Islamist party PAS may gain power if urban voters abandon PH at the next election.
“What concerns the people, especially the youngsters, is that leaders are always circumventing and delaying their promises of reform,” he said, as per the Straits Times.
The political importance lies in whether the issue moves from public comment into formal action, party response, court record, election authority notice or administrative decision.
