269 CANDIDATES FOR UMNO POLL IN MARCH

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- The United Malays National Organisation
(Umno) election scheduled for March 24 to 28 will see 269 candidates vying for
various posts in the Umno Supreme Council and the three wings in the party.

The United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, is a right-wing party and
Malaysia's largest political party; a founding member of the National Front
(Barisan Nasional-BN) coalition, which has been Malaysia's ruling political
party since independence.

The chairman of the Election Committee, Samsudin Osman said only one
candidate who was eligible to contest had withdrawn from the election this time.

"We have received a letter from Mohammed Radzi Manan who withdrew from
contesting a Supreme Council seat," he told reporters after the draw on the
candidates' number at the Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre, here Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is the sole candidate
for the post of party president.

Three candidates, namely International Trade and Industry Minister Muhyiddin
Yassin, Melaka Chief Minister Mohamed Ali Rustam and Rural
and Regional Development Minister Muhammad Muhammad Taib will contest
the deputy presidency.

There are eight candidates for the post of vice-presidents. They are
Education Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Unity, Culture and
Heritage Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal, Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled
Nordin, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, former
Federal Territories Minister Isa Abdul Samad, Foreign Minister
Dr Rais Yatim and former Melaka Chief Minister Abdul Rahim Tamby
Chik.

Fifty-one candidates confirmed that they are contesting for the 25 seats in
the Umno Supreme Council.

Two candidates are vying for the post of Permanent Chairman, namely
incumbent Onn Ismail and Badruddin Amiruldin, while another two candidates,
namely Mohamad Aziz and Ahmad Bhari Abdul Rahman are contesting the Deputy
Permanent Chairman's post.

In the Wanita movement, the post of Wanita head will see a contest between
the incumbent, Rafidah Aziz and the Advisor for Women's Affairs to the
Prime Minister, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Wanita Umno Exco member Kamilia Ibrahim is the only candidate for the
post of Wanita vice-head.

Fifty candidates have confirmed that they are contesting for the 25 seats in
the movement's committee while four candidates are vying for the Deputy
Permanent Chairman's post.

In the Umno Youth movement, there is a three-cornered fight for the Youth
chief post between Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir, former Selangor Chief Minister Dr
Mohd Khir Toyo and the movement's vice-head Khairy Jamaluddin.

In the Puteri movement, there are six candidates for the post of Puteri
head.

Samsudin said all the candidates could still withdraw their candidacy even
though their number in the ballot paper had already been decided.


"We have not printed the ballot papers yet, so we can still take out their
names," he said.

Samsudin said for the election this time, they planned to introduce the
computerised vote counting system to speed up the process.

"What we are doing is to use the ballot papers that can be screened by the
computer, but the voting process will still be carried out manually," he said.

-- BERNAMA