After 72 Umno Youth divisional nominations to date, Mukhriz Mahathir holds the lead in seven states with 40 nominations, including five in his home base of Kedah.

He has even swept all three nominations declared so far in Negri Sembilan, the home state of pre-nomination favourite Khairy Jamaluddin.

mukhriz mahathir and khairy jamaluddin and umno Mukhriz, who also leads Trengganu, Sabah, Pahang, Penang and Johor, can claim a symbolic eighth win in Perak where he is tied with Khairy at four nominations up to now. The ‘silver’ state had been seen as Khairy’s golden goose.

Khairy trails with 19 nominations, still 20 short of the 39 necessary to become eligible for candidacy. The only state clearly backing him is Kelantan, which has handed him four out of five nominations to date.

The Negri Sembilan results must sting for Khairy, the son-in-law of Umno president and premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Success in Umno elections is always built at home, and divisional nominations are good indicators of support that are usually replicated during voting.

Despite the setback, Khairy is expected to obtain the nominations to contest the Umno polls next March.

And once his candidacy is confirmed, he is likely to investigate why the trio of Rasah, Jelebu and Jempol have placed their faith in Mukhriz, the son of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

How states have voted

Former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo is still in the running with 12 nominations up to now. He may finish third but is expected to make the cut.

breakdown of nomination for umno youth chief 151008 Four of his nominations have come from his home state of Selangor, which also gave Mukhriz three nominations and Khairy one.

Mukhriz’s tally to date comprises eight from Johor, six from Sabah, and four each from Pahang and Penang.

Khairy has three each from Johor and Sabah, two from Pahang and one from Penang.

Mohd Khir has obtained one nomination from Johor, Sabah and Penang respectively.

The fourth hopeful, Zahidi Zainul Abidin, has only one nomination - from his Padang Besar division in Perlis. He is likely to stay in the race to raise his national profile, even if nominations don’t come his way.

The only one with a headache at this point is Khairy, But he could find a cure this weekend when the nomination process continues, if he catches up with Mukhriz or overtakes him.