GE15: No instructions for Umno divisions to support Ismail Sabri as PM, says party veep

KUALA NERANG: The Umno supreme council has never issued any directive for the party's divisions to move a motion of support for the candidacy of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as Prime Minister after the 15th General Election (GE15) at their respective meetings, says Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (pic).

On the contrary, the vice-president said most of the party's divisions carried the motion on their own initiative.

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"There was no instruction, it is up to the respective umno divisions. So, yesterday, most of the Umno divisions held their meetings and tabled several motions, one of them was for Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to become the 'poster boy' (for GE15) and the candidate for the prime minister’s post after the election," he added.

Mahdzir told reporters this after attending the Academic Excellence Award presentation at SMK Kuala Nerang here, Sunday (Oct 15).

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He said the decision by the Umno divisions concerned was also in line with the decision made by the party’s supreme council if Barisan Nasional (BN) were to win the election.

When asked whether the motion would create "conflict" with Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Mahdzir said even Ahmad Zahid supported Ismail Sabri.

"There is no conflict with the president as the president himself agreed to name Ismail Sabri as prime minister (candidate)," he added.

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Meanwhile, on BN’s target in Kedah, Mahdzir said it is confident of winning more than the two existing parliamentary seats.

For the record, Kedah has 15 parliamentary seats with seven seats currently held by Pakatan Harapan, PAS (three), Pejuang (three) and BN (two). - Bernama