KUALA LUMPUR: The contest for the top two posts in Umno was not brought up at its Supreme Council meeting last night, the party’s information chief, Isham Jalil, said.
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He said the meeting focused on Umno’s upcoming general assembly.
“This will be the first meeting after the 15th general election, so the discussion revolved around it (general assembly),” he said when asked if the Supreme Council discussed whether the presidency and deputy presidency should be contested at the party polls.
On Dec 26, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said the party had yet to make a decision on the matter, but added that it could be resolved at a special meeting on Jan 12, the eve of the general assembly.
Umno is split on whether a contest for the top two posts should be held, with some saying it risks dividing the party, and others arguing that it would allow president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his deputy, Mohamad Hasan, to prove that they have the support of the grassroots.
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Zahid, who said yesterday he was confident of defending his post if challenged, previously stated that he would leave it to the delegates to decide whether the two posts should be contested.
He said that as a democrat, he was of the view that it should be up to the delegates to have a say on the type of democratic system Umno should adopt.
The four-day Umno AGM comes nearly two months after the party recorded its worst performance in a general election, winning only 26 seats. Barisan Nasional, of which Umno is a component of, won only 30 seats.-FMT