Landslide win for Wee and team

Tallying the scores: Party election votes being counted at Wisma MCA.

KUALA LUMPUR: It’s a clear sign that MCA grassroots members are looking towards a new leadership, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

Referring to the 65% turnout at the party elections yesterday, the new MCA president said he was delighted with the spirit shown by the delegates.

“It is very good,” said Dr Wee after taking his team to a landslide victory alongside running mate Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon.

Dr Wee was in a three-cornered fight with Gan Ping Sieu and Ngoo Teck Keong.

Dr Mah, meanwhile, locked horns with Datuk Tee Siew Kiong.

The team led by Dr Wee has been dubbed WeeMah, and Gan’s team is called GanTee.

Team WeeMah also made a clean sweep of the four vice-president posts – Datuk Tan Teik Cheng, Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker, Datuk Lim Ban Hong and Datuk Seri Yew Teong Look.

It was also a thorough victory for Team WeeMah when it came to the 25 central committee members’ posts.

The MCA elections were held in 188 divisions, with some 32,000 delegates who generated 636 electoral votes. It saw a turnout of more than 65%.

A total of 68 candidates went for the 31 seats – president, deputy president, four vice-presidents and 25 central committee members.

MCA generally conducts elections every three years.

The party constitution, however, allows the elections to be deferred for the party to focus on the general election.

The last party elections was in December 2013.

Incumbent president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai did not seek re-election, taking responsibility for MCA’s poor performance at the 14th General Election.

The 69-year-old MCA won only one parliamentary seat and two state seats out of the 129 seats contested – the worse outing in its history.

GE14 also saw Barisan Nasional, in which MCA is a component party, lose federal power for the first time since independence.

Dr Wee, who is Ayer Hitam MP, is MCA’s sole MP.