JOHOR BAHARU, Sept 26- A total of 4,237 candidates have confirmed filing their nomination papers for state Umno elections last Saturday to stand for posts in the various divisions and the three wings of the party in Johor as at today.
Johor Umno Election Committee chairman Abdul Rahman Sabri said 40 out of the 4,277 members who registered their candidacies withdrew when the 72-hour cooling-off period ended at 5pm Tuesday.
The withdrawal involved 17 members for divisional committee elections, Youth (19) and Puteri (four) while there were no withdrawals received for the Wanita wing, he to a press conference at the Johor Umno headquarters here today.
The elections in the state involve 1,844 candidates at the divisional level, 816 (Wanita), 970 (Youth) and 607 for Puteri.
Abdul Rahman also said the latest state candidate list would be finalised by the central Umno Election Committee after screenings were carried out by the Insolvency Department, court and police until Oct 7.
The meetings and elections for the delegates of the Wanita, Youth and Puteri Umno divisions as well as the elections for the central executive committee (Exco) posts for the three wings will be held simultaneously on Oct 12.
The meetings and elections for divisions as well as Umno’s Supreme Council will be held on Oct 19.
Ten members who won the heads of division post uncontested included Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin (Pagoh); Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein (Sembrong); Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin (Pasir Gudang), who is Johor Menteri Besar; Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Hamim Samuri (Ledang) and Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi (Sri Gading).
Five members who won the deputy head of division posts unopposed included Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan (Pontian) while three members won the vice division head posts uncontested.
Former Puteri Umno chief Datuk Noraini Ahmad (Parit Sulong) and Johor State Women, Family and Community Development Committee chairman Asiah Md Arif (Kota Tinggi) were among 12 candidates who won the division Wanita chief posts unopposed while 10 members won the Wanita division vice-chief posts.
Also declared winners were five division Youth heads and one for division Youth vice head. There were 18 division Puteri heads who won uncontested with 19 winning division Puteri vice-chief posts.
As at 6.30pm Wednesday, only two states, namely Melaka and Johor have announced the total number of members who withdrew from the party elections.
– BERNAMA
