UMNO deputy president Mohamad Hasan said today that he has yet to make a decision on which parliamentary seat he will contest in the general election. 

Mohamad said the party’s priority is to strengthen and prepare the election machinery in all divisions first before deciding on seat distribution and candidates. 

He said the matter would be discussed with Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties soon after engagement sessions with the Sabah BN machinery. 

“I haven’t spoken about the (parliamentary) seat (I will contest) yet, I just talked about the preparations of the machinery. I never said I want to contest anywhere, I just said it’s time for me to contest a parliamentary seat.

“Which seat is up to me, I am the deputy president, I can place myself anywhere I want. I didn’t say I want to contest in Rembau, people saying that is up to them, it is not my concern,” he told reporters after officiating a Safety and Health Mini Expo in conjunction with the Malaysia Day Celebration in Seremban today. 

On September 4, Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also health minister, was reported as saying he would not be defending his seat in GE15, to make way for Mohamad who intends to run for the seat. 

Mohamad, who is also assemblyman for Rantau, one of four state seats in the Rembau constituency, said Umno had asked its BN components to state the constituencies their respective candidates preferred.

“There are some seats that need to see changes, that’s normal, we make changes because there are some places where we didn’t win in three or four general elections, so we need to look at the strategy as well. In a ‘war’, strategy is important to make sure we win,” he said.

On other matters, Mohamad said he is not aware of a proposal to hold discussions with PAS regarding 27 critical seats ahead of the upcoming elections. 

“I didn’t know there are 27 seats that need special attention, but what I am doing now is to go to each state to identify and observe the readiness of the machinery for GE15, which can be held at any time.”

Before this, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man in a statement said that his party is open to holding discussions with Umno regarding the 27 critical seats that were won by Pakatan Harapan in the last general election. – Bernama, September 10, 2022.