DELEGATES at the Umno General Assembly decided there should be no contest for the party’s top two posts, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

The Umno president said the delegates’ decision is final as the process was done in accordance with the party’s constitution.

“The decision (by delegates) is final. As I said before, this matter was left to the delegates to decide,” he said at the assembly in Kuala Lumpur today. 

“This was carried out in accordance with the party’s constitution.”

Earlier today, delegates approved a motion that the positions of party president and deputy president not be contested in the coming party elections.

The matter was confirmed by Terengganu Umno chairman Ahmad Said, who said the matter was decided by a large majority of the delegates.

Zahid said if there was an issue of illegal representation by delegates or if there were matters that were not followed by the permanent chairman, it will be addressed. 

“I have checked after the event to be sure everything was in accordance with the meeting rules,” he said.

“We were surprised that an additional motion was passed (on no-contest).”

Zahid also dismissed talk that the delegates felt that they (Zahid and Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan) were afraid to contest. 

“This matter didn’t arise because we see that the delegates are from the grassroots,” he said.

“It’s the grassroots that wanted party stability.”

On whether the Umno Supreme Council can rescind the decision, Zahid said the general assembly is the highest decision-making body in the party and this is clearly stated in Umno’s constitution.

As for anyone who wants to counter the motion, he said he will leave it to the disciplinary board to address the matter.

Asked if action would be taken against former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin for alleging illegal representation by delegates, Zahid said it will be discussed by the disciplinary board and brought to his (Khairy’s) division committee’s attention. – January 14, 2023.