GE15: Up to BN leadership to decide on Sembrong seat candidate, says Hishammuddin

KOTA KINABALU: The Sembrong Umno division has begun working to ensure victory for anyone picked by the Barisan Nasional leadership as the candidate to stand in the parliamentary seat, says its chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

Hishammuddin, who was also the Barisan treasurer-general, said the Sembrong Umno division had proposed the names of potential candidates to the Barisan leadership.

As such, he said he would leave it to the leadership to decide on the best possible candidate to contest the Sembrong seat of which he was the incumbent.

Asked why he has not voiced his desire to defend the seat, Hishammuddin said: "It is not for me to decide where I want to stand. What’s important is that we must make preparations.

"The Sembrong division has been taught that whoever the leadership decides to be the candidate, the work must already start before the nomination day.

"All questions on the nomination and polling days have now been answered so our job is to ensure our machinery is ready to ensure victory to anyone the party decides to field in the 15th General Election (GE15)," he added.

Speaking to reporters after an event here on Saturday (Oct 22), Hishammuddin, who was also Defence Minister, said they should not only start working when a candidate was named.

He said he has held meetings in Sembrong involving all the polling district centres and Umno branches in order to track down new voters as well as their own supporters.