JOHOR BARU: Former Johor mentri besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad has handed in his nomination form to contest a vice president's post in the upcoming Umno elections.
The 64-year-old Simpang Renggam MP submitted his papers at party headquarters at the World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Friday (Feb 24).
"Alhamdulilah, taking Friday’s blessing, I have submitted the form for Umno vice president in this election.
"May everything go smoothly and be made easy by Allah," he said in a Facebook post.
Hasni, a supreme council member, confirmed earlier this month that he would be vying for one of the three vice president's posts.
Another former Johor mentri besar, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, has also confirmed that he would be defending his vice president's post.
On Tuesday (Feb 21), the Johor Umno chairman, who is also Kota Tinggi MP and Higher Education Minister, said he wanted to continue serving the party.
"I am offering myself as vice president to serve and contribute to the party at a time when Umno is not at its best position and considered far from the conscience of the Malays," he said.
Mohamed Khaled added that he was determined to restore the lost trust through rehabilitation and work with those who shared his opinion to revive the party.
The contest for the three posts is expected to be crowded as it is the only top party position that can be contested.
In January, it was decided at the Umno general assembly that the party president and deputy president's posts would not be contested this round.
Umno is in the midst of elections for its 191 divisions and 22,000 branches, including divisions that were suspended.
The party’s new office bearers will be elected from Feb 1 to March 18, but the top two positions of president and deputy president will not be contested this time around.
In May last year, Umno amended its constitution to allow party polls to be held within six months after the conclusion of the 15th General Election.
Umno had postponed its party polls for 18 months after the 2018/2021 term ended on June 30, 2021, which meant elections for the 2021/2023 term should have been held before Dec 30 last year. However, the polls were postponed.
