PETALING JAYA: Former minister and Umno bigwig Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has officially thrown her hat in the ring to contest the Wanita Umno chief post, in an effort to stage a comeback to politics.
"Yes, I am contesting," said an excited Shahrizat, who stepped down in 2018 and announced that she was quitting politics then.
The 69-year old former Pantai Dalam MP said that her representative had sent the official forms to Umno headquarters on Friday (Feb 17) morning.
"Alhamdulillah, my nomination form for the post of Wanita Umno chief has been sent by my representative and accepted by the Umno election secretariat this morning (Feb 17) at 11.30am," said Shahrizat.
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The incumbent Wanita Umno chief is Datuk Seri Noraini Ahmad, whom Shahrizat herself handpicked as her successor when she stepped down.
Umno is in the midst of its internal elections for the 191 divisions and 22,000 branches, including the divisions that were suspended.
The party’s new office bearers will be elected from Feb 1 to March 18, but the top two positions of president and deputy president will not be contested this time around.
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In May last year, Umno amended its constitution to allow party polls to be held within six months after the conclusion of the 15th General Election.
Umno had postponed its party elections for 18 months after the 2018/2021 term ended on June 30, 2021, which meant party polls for the 2021/2023 term should have been held before Dec 30 last year. However, the polls were postponed.
