PARTI Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leadership today claimed to possess evidence that Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had joined a new political party before formally vacating their parliamentary seats.
Its secretary-general, Datuk Fuziah Salleh, said the party was examining possible legal action against both former leaders, arguing that anti-hopping provisions and internal party bond agreements could still apply despite their planned resignation strategy.
The dispute emerged after Rafizi and Nik Nazmi announced they would relinquish their respective parliamentary seats before formally leaving PKR and taking over Parti Bersama ahead of the next general election.
According to Fuziah, the move appeared designed to avoid triggering Malaysia’s anti-party hopping law.
“The Member of Parliament for Pandan and the Member of Parliament for Setiawangsa announced that on the 18th, which is today, they would vacate their parliamentary seats, and on the 19th, which is tomorrow, they would leave the party.
“That is their way of saying that the Anti-Party Hopping Act does not apply. But I have evidence that they had already joined Parti Bersama. On Bersama’s website, the registration timestamp was dated the 17th,” she told reporters during the National Consumer Policy Advocacy Programme 2.0 and Consumer Dialogue event at Hotel Seri Malaysia.
Fuziah said PKR’s internal constitutional provisions suggested the pair may have effectively defected on May 17, before officially vacating their parliamentary positions a day later.
“If based on the party constitution, then they had already jumped parties on the 17th, before vacating their seats today. Therefore, our legal advisers will study the matter before any action is taken against both of them,” she said.
The controversy centres on whether the sequence of political actions undertaken by Rafizi and Nik Nazmi could still fall within the scope of Malaysia’s anti-defection legislation, which was introduced to curb political instability caused by party switching among elected representatives.
Fuziah also indicated that PKR was considering whether disciplinary or legal measures could be extended to five other PKR Members of Parliament who appeared alongside Rafizi and Nik Nazmi during their political announcement event in Petaling Jaya.
“We will discuss this matter during tomorrow’s PKR Political Bureau meeting. We will discuss action against everyone involved in yesterday’s programme,” she said.
The escalating fallout marks one of the most serious internal fractures within PKR in recent years, particularly given Rafizi’s former role as deputy president and Nik Nazmi’s position as vice-president within the party hierarchy.
Both politicians announced yesterday that they intended to assume leadership of Parti Bersama and contest their existing parliamentary constituencies under the new political platform in the next general election, signalling a potentially significant realignment within Malaysia’s opposition and reformist political landscape. - May 18, 2026
