Umno nominations see some surprises (updated)

KUALA LUMPUR: A day after announcing his intention to go for the Umno president post, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak obtained two nominations from the Kimanis Umno division in Sabah and Machang division in Kelantan.

Both divisions also nominated Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the deputy president.

The two top posts fell vacant after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that he would not seek re-election as the party president, paving the way for Najib to move up the party hierachy.

The others who have expressed their intentions to go for the deputy president’s post are Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad.

The three vice-president posts are also up for grabs with incumbents Muhyiddin and Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam announcing their intentions to go for the deputy president post.

Kimanis nominated Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim for the party vice-president posts, while Machang named Hishammuddin, Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin and Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

A number of others also expressed their intentions for the vice-president posts - so far they are Datuk Mohd Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Datuk Dr Abdullah Mat Zin, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and former vice-president Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad.

Mohd Isa had been sacked from the post after he was found guilty of money politics and had completed the period of which he had been barred from active politics.

The race for the Umno Youth top post appears to be neck-and-neck between Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, with Khairy gaining a slight edge.

Khairy obtained his second, third and fourth nominations for the movement’s chief post on Friday from the Pengkalan Chepa, Silam and Ketereh division youth meetings, while Mukhriz, the Jerlun MP got his second nomination from his own division and third from Besut.

Both got their first nominations on Thursday - Khairy from Machang and Mukhriz from Kimanis.

Another serious contender for the youth chief’s post is former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, who obtained his first nomination from Tumpat, Kelantan.

The other interesting contest in the wing is the fight for the deputy Youth chief post.

Datuk Reezal Merican Naina Merican, who is a political secretary of the Prime Minister and the Kepala Batas Youth chief, has pulled ahead with nominations from Silam, Tumpat and Ketereh.

The Wanita Umno contest, which looked like a sure thing for the Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz-Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil team, witnessed a surprising turn when the Beruas division in Perak nominated Shahrizat for the top post instead, while they selected Datuk Azalina Othman Said as the deputy chief.

For the Puteri Umno chief, the movement’s deputy Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin of Sabah, is leading with seven nominations (Kimanis, Padang Rengas, Besut, Tumpat, Ketereh, Kuala Terengganu and Beruas).

Information head Datuk Shahaniza Shamsudin, who is also gunning for the post, secured two nominations from Sandakan and Keningau with Bibi Sharliza Mohd Khalid also getting two nominations (Baling, Padang Terap.)

-The Star Online