Even before Umno branches begin their meetings this month, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has apparently sown up nominations from his home state of Penang to defend his party presidency.

All 13 division leaders at the Penang Umno liaison committee meeting on Saturday have unanimously decided to nominate Abdullah as the party chief and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as deputy for another term.

The startling announcement was made by committee deputy chief Abdul Rashid Abdullah after emerging from a three-hour meeting chaired by Abdullah, who is incidentally the state liaison chief.

The question on everyone’s lips is ‘why so soon’ since nominations for party posts would only be made when Umno’s 191 divisions hold their annual general meetings (AGM) in October. Before that, its 10,000 branches would be having their respective AGMs from mid-July.