‘Umno election can be discussed in party’s supreme council meeting’

KUALA LUMPUR: The Umno party election can be addressed during the Umno supreme council’s monthly meeting, says party secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.

He added that the meeting would be held tomorrow to discuss several matters ahead of the Umno general assembly 2022, which is slated to start next week.

“The matter of the Umno election has yet to be decided, and it can be discussed at the supreme council meeting on Thursday,” he told a press conference yesterday.

On the posts of Umno president and deputy president, Ahmad declined to comment on whether there would be a motion for the top two posts to be contested.

He said that the assembly would only discuss one motion, which was on party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s policy speech.

On Dec 26, the Umno secretary-general said the decision on whether the positions of the party president and deputy president would be contested would only be made during the special supreme council meeting on Jan 12.

Ahmad also said the meeting would decide whether leaders of other parties in the unity government would be invited to the opening ceremony of the Umno general assembly.

The 2022 party assembly that was postponed from last year will commence next week from Jan 11 until Jan 14. It will be attended by 5,523 delegates.

Ahmad also said an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) will be held during the party’s assembly to amend two clauses in the party’s constitution.

The EGM will be held after the presidential policy speech next Friday.

The first amendment will allow all information chiefs to be automatically elected as delegates to the Umno general assembly every year.

The second amendment will touch on the membership clause so as to streamline it with the anti- hopping law, under which the membership of Umno members will be automatically revoked if they leave the party after becoming assemblymen or MPs or if they contest as an independent during an election or as a candidate for another party.