KUALA LUMPUR, JUNE 1– The Umno election to be held this year will adopt the new party constitution that will give an opportunity to almost 500,000 members at the grassroots level to determine the party’s top leadership.
The election would be carried out after the divisional-level meetings and before the party’s general assembly, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak told reporters after chairing the Umno supreme council (MT) meeting, here today.
He said a special task force led by former Perak Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali would be set up to explain the new election method based on the party constitution that was amended in 2009.
“The new party constitution is more challenging and more complex because in line with the changes and reforms that had been initiated three years ago, party elections using the amended constitution had not been implemented earlier.
“In terms of the supreme council election, almost 150,000 people will be involved in determining the top party leadership from the president down to the supreme council members. This did not include 100,000 members from the party wings, Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri,” said Najib.
“Although the responsibility is not the same as the EC (Election Commission), it is much bigger than what we had gone thorough before,” he said.
Najib said the new election process would be carried out simultaneously in the 191 divisions throughout the country within the time stipulated.
On the method of implementing the election, Najib said: “Whatever way we choose whether by raising the hand, biometric, indelible ink and many others, these are still being studied in detail.”
Meanwhile, he said the branch meetings would only begin after the briefing process at the state level had been completed by the special task force which also included the party secretary-general, executive secretary and several party members.
“The earliest that we can hold the branch meeting is July 15. So, we fix July 15 until Aug 31 for the branch meetings to be held which will be followed by the divisional delegates meeting and the general assembly,” Najib said.
– BERNAMA
