UMNO will seek the advice of the Registrar of Societies (RoS) and the National Security Council (NSC) on how it will be able to conduct its party election amid the Covid-19 pandemic, said Ahmad Maslan.

In a statement, the party secretary-general said this was to ensure that the election could be held smoothly in light of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

“The imminent party election involves branch and division meetings, including the Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings. It involves 66,287 meetings in 191 divisions and some 3.3 million members,” he said after a three-hour Supreme Council meeting at the party’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

“We want to ensure the election can be carry out smoothly and effectively in light of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the country.”

The current Supreme Council term ends in June.

Umno has adopted a one division, one vote system, where all the delegates in the divisions are entitled to vote in the contest for Supreme Council positions.

The division elections can only be held after the branches meet and elect their office-bearers.

This provides a challenge, especially the bigger divisions like Lahad Datu, which has 46,570 delegates, Semporna (40,296), Libaran (38,131), Gombak (37,851) and Baling (37,512). 

Before today’s meeting, several party leaders, including Annuar Musa, Khairy Jamaluddin and Reezal Merican, have urged the party to go ahead with the polls and not postpone them.

They felt that fresh polls will resolve internal party conflicts before the next general election and offer voters a fresh slate of faces to lead.

Ahmad said apart from seeking advice from the Ros and NSC, the Supreme Council wants the government to convene parliament and state legislative assemblies.

He said the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong has decreed that parliament meetings can be held during the state of emergency.

“Parliament and state assemblies are the avenues for the elected public officials to keep the government in check and ensure the administration does not act as it likes,” he said.

“It will ensure the government keeps in mind the interests of the people at all times, particularly the rising cost of living and unemployment.” – April 25, 2021.