KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — PKR organising secretary Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad today said that the party’s decision to use its own logo in the upcoming Johor state elections, is due to "overwhelming” requests to do so from the party’s grassroots and supporters.

In a series of Twitter posts, Nik Nazmi also said that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) logo had become a symbol of an era that included the downfall of the PH government in February 2020, and the Sheraton Move which preceded it — itself engineered by PKR’s defectors.

"It had its achievements, but also many shortcomings. This included the empowerment of a faction in PKR that eventually took part in the Sheraton Move, which led to the downfall of the elected PH government,” he said.

This comes hours after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PH chairman and PKR president, announced today evening that PKR will use its own logo in the Johor elections — while its remaining coalition members, DAP and Amanah will use the PH coalition logo.

Anwar said that the decision was made on a consensus during today’s PH presidential council meeting.

This was echoed by Nik Nazmi, who maintained that PH remains united ahead of the Johor polls and that the logo issue is a question of strategy and tactics aimed at getting "the best possible results” at the state election.

"The PKR logo is much more recognisable by voters than the PH logo. Any marketing expert will tell you the importance of brand recognition. This is also an important factor in semi-rural seats, which is where PKR often contests in.

"It is important to remember that the PH logo was only introduced in 2017, after Bersatu joined. PH itself was formed in 2015. The red-and-white arrowhead logo is not necessarily a part of our original heritage — we existed for two years without it,” he said.

Nik Nazmi also argued that PH parties have always been flexible on the usage of logos and cited several examples, which included PKR using its own logo during the Sungai Kandis by-election in 2018, and DAP using its own logo during the Sandakan by-election in 2019.

"In fact, during the 2020 Sabah state election, DAP and Amanah used the Warisan logo, despite the latter not even being a PH component. Keadilan did not object then and the DAP and Amanah have not objected to our current request,” he said.

A premature state election was triggered in Johor last week after caretaker mentri besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad from Umno sought the dissolution of the state assembly despite still holding a one-seat majority.

The Election Commission is scheduled to meet on February 9 to decide the nomination and polling dates for Johor.