PETALING JAYA: It is official. PKR’s Rafizi Ramli will contest the deputy presidency position in the upcoming party polls in August.

“Yes, I confirm that I will be running,” he told The Star on Thursday (July 26) in a text message.

This would mean that Rafizi is set to go head-to-head against current party deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali if he decides to defend his position in the coming party elections.

However, Rafizi remains unfazed over the prospect of crossing swords with the former Selangor Mentri Besar, as he regarded it as a “celebration of democracy”.

“It’s a healthy competition within the family. The culture in PKR is quite different than in other parties, so democratic contests will always be good for the party,” he added.

Speculation is rife that Azmin is eying the PKR president's position, fuelling possibilities of an imminent split between two camps in the party - one helmed by Anwar and another by Azmin.

PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has expressed his intention to contest the president's post on July 15, saying that it is a promise that he had made to Malaysians over 20 years ago.

However, Azmin remained coy on the matter when commenting on the issue on July 18.

Azmin had said that he is still undecided as to whether he should defend his deputy president's post or to run for president.

On July 18, PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin had urged the party to not prevent members from challenging for the presidency.

At the same time ,she vouched for Azmin by saying that he's a dynamic leader who is capable of leading the party.

The current PKR president is Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister.

The PKR party elections will be held by the end of August, while nominations of candidates will be held on July 29.