KUALA LUMPUR – Umno polls could very well be brought forward before May, six months following the conclusion of the 15th general election, said party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
As such the decision to hold party elections, he said, will be left to the Umno delegates.
Speaking during a live-streamed interview on the NRChannel TV YouTube channel last night, Zahid highlighted that party polls are usually not held during the Umno general assembly but were done in tandem with the party’s divisional conference.
“Usually all Umno’s 191 divisions will have their conference simultaneously whereby divisional and central leadership elections are conducted.
“So there is no need to wait for six months for party elections as it could be held earlier,” he said.
Additionally, Zahid also left it to party delegates to decide on whether Umno’s top two posts, namely the presidency and deputy presidency should be contested during the party polls.
“Despite deciding during the 2017 Umno general assembly that the top two posts won’t be contested, I would like to see these positions being contested as I assumed the presidency in 2018.
“There were suggestions that the posts should not be contested during Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s tenure, but that did not materialise.
“As a democrat, I will leave it to the delegates to decide,” he said, in response to reports that Umno delegates were calling for the party to conduct its polls.
Earlier, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan had said Umno’s Supreme Council has yet to make a decision on whether the party presidency and deputy presidency will be up for contest during the upcoming party polls.
The 2022 Umno general assembly that was initially scheduled for this month has been postponed to between January 11 to 14 respectively. – The Vibes, December 28, 2022
