Syed Hamid qualifies for VP contest

breaking news updated 9.05pm Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar becomes the fifth candidate to qualify for the Umno vice-president race.

The veteran Umno leader picked up his 20th nominations from the Petaling Jaya Utara division in Selangor today.

Candidates vying for vice-president will need at least 20 nominations to be on the ballot paper for the contest.

Syed Hamid will now join Hishammuddin Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Khaled Nordin dan Shafie Apdal in the battle for the three vice-president posts.

Frontrunner Hishammuddin has so far bagged 79 nominations, while Zahid comes in second with 58, followed by Shafie (48) and Khaled (46).

Still yet to qualify are Rais Yatim (9), Isa Samad (8), Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik (8), Shahidan Kassim (6), Jamaluddin Jarjis (5), Mohamad Hassan (3), Musa Aman (2), Mohd Ali Rustam (1) dan Annuar Musa (1).

All 99 Divisions Back Najib

Meanwhile, in the deputy president contest, both Ali Rustam and Muhammad Muhd Taib added their haul of nominations with 23 and 15 nominations thus far.

Still, they are far behind runaway favourite Muhyiddn Yassin, who has garnered 63 nominations so far.

Najib continues to sweep the nominations from all the 99 divisions which has met since early this month.

His rival for the president post, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, has yet to pick up a single nomination.

Almost half of the Umno divisions have already completed their meetings while the other half will meet in the next two weeks.