KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — Muhammad Faisal Abdul Aziz was voted in as the new chairman of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) today with a one-vote majority, the electoral watchdog’s steering committee announced today.

Faisal, who was the president of Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim), secured 23 votes while his only rival in the contest, Gopalan K. Papachan, a former secretary-general of the Malaysian Workers Party before it was rebranded as Parti Amanah Negara, received just one ballot fewer.

"The Election Committee declares Muhammad Faisal bin Abdul Aziz as the new Bersih chairperson for the term of 2023-2025,” the group said in a statement today.

The election held earlier today was conducted online to enable the participation of endorsing NGOs beyond Klang Valley, and had a voter turnout rate of 74 per cent with only 45 NGOs that voted out of 61 NGOs.

The process was monitored by five observers of the endorsing NGOs who were physically present.

The ballot counting process was also livestreamed via the Zoom video-conferencing application for endorsing NGOs to observe.

The election for a new Bersih chairman was held following the resignation of Thomas Fann on November 19, citing a "vote of no confidence” from a divided steering committee pulling in opposite directions.