Umno elections to be postponed for 18 months, says party sec-gen

Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan. - Filepic/The Star

PETALING JAYA: The Umno party elections have been officially postponed for 18 months amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Emergency, says Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.

The Umno secretary-general said the decision was made by the party's supreme council, which agreed that elections for all positions at the branch, division and supreme council had been postponed for 18 months beginning June 30.

"This decision is in line with Article 10.16 of the Umno constitution, which stated that the supreme council has the right to postpone party polls at the supreme council, branch and division levels.

This postponement will not be more than 18 months from the date when the party polls were supposed to be held," he said in a statement on Tuesday (June 29).

Ahmad said that Umno elections are held every three years and it will be three years by June 30.

"Normally, Umno would conduct re-elections. But the supreme council before this had stated that Umno would refer to the National Security Council (NSC) and the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for guidance due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic."

Ahmad said he has met personally and written letters to the NSC, the Health director-general and the ROS director-general.

“Answers to my questions were given by the Health Ministry on May 10, by the ROS on June 2 and the NSC on June 11,” said Ahmad.

He said he was advised by the Health Ministry and the NSC to conduct Umno meetings and polls virtually.

"However, it is also mentioned in the letter that if we can't conduct it early then the party election should be postponed until a date when the Covid-19 pandemic is under control."

Ahmad said 66,287 meetings had to be held and the party election would involve the attendance of 3.3 million Umno members.

The 66,287 figure consisted of 21,135 meetings at the division level, 21,058 meetings of the Women's Wing, 15,496 meetings of the Youth Wing, and 8,598 meetings of the Puteri Wing.

Ahmad also said there will be 764 conferences involving delegates of 191 conferences for the division level, Wanita, Youth and Puteri Wing.

"It will be difficult as the conference of delegates from these four (divisional, Wanita, Youth and Puteri) will take place at the same time.”

Ahmad said Umno has never conducted meetings and conferences via an online voting system, adding that he was concerned over potential technical errors along with bad Internet coverage.

However, Ahmad said a meeting involving the branch, division and general assembly with a 25% quorum will have to take place online.

"This is to fulfil the annual association procedure," he added.

Meanwhile, Ahmad said a proposal by the party's management committee that was tabled in the recent supreme council meeting had suggested that the meetings of the four levels could take place with an attendance of 25%.

"That meeting can be held with a one-fourth attendance and online if there is Internet coverage.

For rural areas with bad internet coverage, Ahmad said face-to-face meetings can be held.

"They must obtain approvals from the Umno headquarters that are subject to approval by the ROS.”

On Friday (June 25), The Star, quoting party sources, reported that the Umno polls are expected to be postponed for eight months.

The party source also said the decision to postpone party polls was made via a resolution that was made online recently, as the Umno supreme council was not able to meet due to Phase One of the National Recovery Plan.

Umno, which has 3.35 million members as of March 26, was due to call party polls last year but this was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw spikes at the end of 2020 following the Sabah state election.

According to Umno's constitution, the supreme council has the prerogative to postpone party polls up to 18 months from the date when the polls are supposed to be held.

Umno elections are held every three years, with the last one held on June 30, 2018. The current term for Umno's office bearers is set to expire on June 30.