KUALA LUMPUR: The proposal to amend the Umno constitution to allow party elections to be held after the 15th General Election (GE15) is for the sake of party stability and not personal benefit, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Umno president scoffed at claims that it was to protect his position in the party, calling it a "narrow-minded" mindset.
"The constitutional amendment that we are about to table today carries a significant meaning. The message is very clear – we want stability.
"There's talk that this amendment is to save Zahid Hamidi's position as president. Let me stress that this is not true.
"It is quite shallow of anyone – including those within our top leadership – to have such a narrow-minded mindset," he said, adding that the gears for this were set in motion at grassroots level from division meetings.
"This was a decision made at grassroots level and later tabled at the Umno general assembly two months ago which was agreed and approved," said Ahmad Zahid in his opening speech at an Umno extraordinary general meeting here on Sunday (May 15).
The main agenda of the special meeting is to amend Umno's constitution to allow party elections to be held six months after GE15.
Umno was supposed to hold party elections in June last year but it was postponed by 18 months, entailing that the polls must be held before 2022 ends.
Ahmad Zahid said postponing party polls would ensure Umno can contest GE15 with a stable and unchanged line-up.
"What is the point of offering an agenda of stability to the people, if our own party is in disarray? If the party is split into many factions, it will be detrimental to all of us.
"After the general election, then we can have party polls to pick a new set of leaders," said Ahamd Zahid.
