KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the party will appoint a special council and a “foster minister” each to oversee the six states that will have elections this year.
He said former Kepala Batas lawmaker Datuk Seri Reezal Naina Merican will coordinate the state election operations.
“In order to ensure that the focus and strategy of the work can be properly arranged, in accordance with the recommendations presented by the spokesperson, we will appoint a supreme council and a minister elect for each state involved,” he said in his closing speech for the 2022 Umno annual general assembly.
He said Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who is also the defence minister, will lead the Negri Sembilan state election campaign.
Umno vice presidents Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Datuk Seri Khalid Nordin will be the “foster ministers” for Kedah and Terengganu, respectively.
Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary general Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir will lead the Umno campaign in Kelantan, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said in Penang, and Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz in Selangor.
Ahmad Zahid also expressed his gratitude towards party delegates for approving the motion to leave party’s top two posts uncontested.
Earlier today, Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Ahmad Said confirmed that the motion to leave the top positions in the party uncontested has been approved.
Prior to that, several Umno delegates debating during the general assembly had rejected the proposal that there be no contest for top positions in the upcoming party elections.
Yesterday, Negri Sembilan candidate Mohd Shukri Samsudin submitted an additional motion calling for party leaders not to contest the posts of president and deputy president at its upcoming party election.
Mohd Shukri’s motion was supported by a Terengganu delegate, Marang Umno chief Datuk Nik Dir Nik Wan Ku, who stated that Umno would have lost even more seats in the recent general election if Zahid was not its president.
