SENATOR Khairul Azwan Harun has conceded defeat in the Umno Youth race, pledging support for new chief Dr Asyraf Wajdi.

“I have congratulated my old friend Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki on his victory as the new Umno youth chief. And I offered my services to back his leadership to help the youth wing rejuvenate,” Khairul said in a statement this afternoon.

Khairul said he hoped that the youth wing will now close ranks to ensure that Umno becomes a credible opposition.

“I also hope that Asyraf will consider some of my reform ideas for Pemuda, such as age limitations for the wing, a simpler registration system and direct elections,” said Khairul, who is known by his Twitter handle AzwanBro.

Khairul said he will continue his senatorship in Dewan Negara until the term ends and pledged to support good laws brought by any party.

Although Umno is only due to announce the official results at 5pm today, several people have already announced Asyraf’s victory on social media.

According to Twitter account @PemilihanUmno2018 at 12.15pm, Asyraf, who was a former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had picked up 65 out of 191 divisional votes while Khairul had 62. The other two candidates Shahar Abdullah and Jamal Yunos had 51 and 2 respectively.

Umno’s party election employs a mixture of delegate voting and electoral colleges. – June 24, 2018