NATIONALIST Malay party Umno is deferring elections to concentrate on strengthening ties between members, Ahmad Maslan told Utusan Malaysia.

The Umno secretary-general told the Malay daily that if party polls were held now, some candidates could lose their posts, and this may create disunity among the members ahead of the general election.

“Taking into consideration all these factors, Umno will not hold party elections that could cause internal divisions before GE15,” the Pontian MP said. 

“If this happens, others could take advantage of the situation to weaken Umno.”

Seventy-five per cent of Puteri Umno are over the age of 35, and 65% of Umno Youth leadership over age 40, which means that many of the current leaders of the wings would have to relinquish their posts ahead of national polls, Ahmad added.

At the Umno general assembly in March, the party passed a resolution to postpone party elections to six months after GE15.

However, the party is still waiting for approval from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to postpone party polls until after the general election.

Bernama reported that the ROS will announce its decision on July 16.

Umno had previously postponed party elections for 18 months after the 2018/2021 term ended on June 30 last year.

The 18-month period will end by the end of this year and the party must hold polls before December 30. – July 11, 2022.