Malaysia

[UPDATED] RoS okays amendment to Umno constitution, allowing post-GE party polls

However, internal election must be held within single parliamentary term, says sec-gen Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan

Updated 4 years ago · Published on 29 Jul 2022 8:07PM

[UPDATED] RoS okays amendment to Umno constitution, allowing post-GE party polls — The caveat imposed by the Registrar of Societies means that Umno’s internal party election will be held not more than six months after the 15th general election. – The Vibes file pic, July 29, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR – The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has approved Umno’s amendment to its constitution to allow party elections to be held no later than six months after a general election, said party secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.

In a statement today, Ahmad said the approval had come into effect today.

However, he explained that the RoS had placed a caveat on Umno’s application and requested that the party hold its party polls within a single parliamentary term.

“This means that the party election for this term would only be done no more than six months after GE15 (15th general election),” he said.

Additionally, Ahmad also thanked the RoS for the approval.

Prior to this, numerous reports indicated that Umno faced a huge hurdle in getting its constitutional amendment approved by the RoS due to a perceived tug of war between vested interests in Putrajaya and even within the party.

The media had previously reported Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan as saying that the party had yet to receive any feedback from the RoS since the notice on the party’s constitutional amendment was submitted on May 17.

RoS was given 60 days to reply to the application with the deadline being July 16.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin had repeatedly said that he had no authority over the matter when RoS did not promptly reply to Umno by the deadline.

Even Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also Umno’s vice-president, delegated the matter solely to Ahmad.

Umno previously postponed its party elections for 18 months after the 2018/2021 term ended on June 30 last year.

The 18-month period will end by the end of this year and Umno elections must be held before December 30.

However, in May, an Umno special general assembly unanimously approved a motion to amend its constitution, which, among other things, allows party elections to be held no more than six months after a general election. – The Vibes, July 29, 2022