FORMER UMNO supreme council member Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz urged UMNO to hold its elections and allow all party positions to run for all party posts.
“Party polls can be held anytime since the general election had concluded last month, adding that no one should influence the democratic practice UMNO had been adhering to for many years,” The Star reported him as saying.
According to Nazri, they (UMNO) are the oldest party, and have been practising democracy for decades. He sees no reason as to why should postpone the elections any longer.
“Usually, we have the elections before the general election. The next one will be in five years. What is going to happen if we keep pushing it further?”
Moreover, Nazri chastised UMNO members who demanded that the positions of president and vice president not be disputed.
He felt that this diminished Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s and Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s capabilities as president and vice president, respectively.
“This is something that Zahid or Tok Mat did not even ask for but are suggestions made by others. If we want to address the disunity in Umno, we must proceed with the elections.
“We will lose our credibility if we don’t practise the democracy we strongly believe in,” he added.
Prior to this, Sungai Besar UMNO chief Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos proposed for the president and deputy president post to not be contested.
Simultaneously, Pasir Salak UMNO deputy chief Khairul Azwan Harun is of the opinion that Zahid should be retained as president for another term.
However, Nazri scoffed at the claims, claiming that both Jamal and Khairul lacked “credibility” to speak about what is best for UMNO since they had both lost the general election.
UMNO was scheduled to convene its general assembly from Dec 21 to 24. However, UMNO secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan stated that party elections will be held from Jan 11 to 14, 2023 since most members wanted to go on their year-end vacations. – Dec 25, 2022
Main photo credit: Berita Harian
