THE inaugural Bersatu party elections kicked off this morning with 7,371 positions at the division level being contested, said Syed Hamid Albar.

The party’s election committee chairman said of the total, 2,385 candidates are contesting posts in various divisions while 2,268 are jockeying for positions in the party’s youth wing, Armada, and women’s Srikandi wing.

“The nominations for supreme council positions will open on March 16,” he said after visiting the party’s division office in Sentul this morning.

He said nominations for the various posts closed at 2pm and candidates could withdraw from contesting if they had a change of heart.

Hamid said they could withdraw in the cooling-off period from tomorrow to Wednesday. 

Hamid said all the nomination forms received will be sent to the party’s Central Election Committee, which will screen the forms and decide if the candidates are qualified to contest.

“The list will be finalised on February 1 and put on display after that,” he said.

Bersatu has 198 division nationwide, and its four-day annual general assembly will start on June 25.

The branches will meet from February 15 to March 29 while the divisions will meet on April 18. – January 26, 2020.