Snap polls likely to be discussed at Umno meet today

JOHOR BARU: Talk of Johor going into a snap election has intensified, with the issue expected to be the main agenda when the Umno state divisions meet today.

Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad, who is Johor Umno chief, will be chairing the meeting that will be attended by all 26 division heads.

The meeting will be held at Johor Umno headquarters here.

“The main agenda will be on the state election and the party’s preparations,” said a source familiar with handling Johor Umno meetings.

“The meeting is to fine tune our machinery to make sure everything is in order before the state election, which is likely to be held very soon.

“It will also discuss seat allocations and finalise the list of candidates before being given to Umno president (Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi),” added the source.

It is learnt that all Umno divisions in the state had meetings yesterday, to finalise the list of their candidates before forwarding them to Hasni.

The snap polls buzz got louder when 26 division information chiefs held a meeting yesterday, chaired by Johor Umno information chief Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, who said it was a normal meeting.

“We had the meeting for a post-mortem on the Melaka election where Johor Umno was in charge of the Jasin parliamentary (constituency).

“We won four out of five state seats there,” he added.

When asked if Hasni is expecting to make a major announcement after the meeting today, Dr Adham said the question should be directed at Johor Umno secretary Datuk Samsolbari Jamali.

Meanwhile, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan is expected to visit Johor to further discuss the election with state party leaders.

Hasni, who is also Johor Barisan Nasional chairman, is expected to chair a meeting with leaders of component parties in the state within the next few days.

The Umno-led government has a simple majority of 28 seats against Pakatan Harapan’s 27 following the passing of former mentri besar Datuk Osman Sapian, who was Kempas assemblyman, on Dec 21 last year. Osman was from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

The state government consists of Umno (14 seats), MIC (two), PAS (one) and Bersatu (11), while the Opposition comprises DAP (14), Amanah (six) and PKR (seven).