Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak continues to pile on the nominations in his bid for the party No 1 post with 105 under his belt without a challenger in sight.

As of tonight, former Umno vice-president Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has yet to obtain a single nomination from the party's 191 divisions to contest the president post.

This task appears increasingly impossible for Razaleigh as he requires at least 58 nominations to qualify to contest the post, given that only 86 divisions have yet to meet.

umno 2009 Meanwhile, Umno vice-president Muhyiddin Yassin has bagged 65 nominations while his most immediate challenger, Mohd Ali Rustam, failed today to increase his tally of 23 so far.

However, Umno information chief Muhammad Muhd Taib has notched up two nominations to add to the 15 he had yesterday.

Both will need 39 nominations to qualify for the contest.

At the same time, Nur Jazlan Mohamed, the youngest of the four candidates contesting for the deputy seat, has announced that he would pull out of the race and gave his support to Najib and Muhyiddin for No 1 and 2 respectively.

umno nomination 2009 update on 11 50 am 28th october 2008 281008

For the vice-president race, Hishammuddin Hussein dan Ahmad Zahid Hamidi continues to increase their tally with the latest from the Maran division in Pahang.

The two frontrunners for the three vice-president posts have 85 and 62 nominations respectively.

Three others have obtained the 20 nominations needed to be listed on the ballot paper. They are Khaled Nordin (50), Shafie Apdal (46) and Syed Hamid Albar (22).

The others in the crowded vice-president race are Rais Yatim (9), Isa Samad (8), Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik (8), Shahidan Kassim (6), Jamaluddin Jarjis (6), Mohamad Hassan (3), Musa Aman (2), Mohd Ali Rustam (1) and Annuar Musa (1).

56 for Shahrizat to challenge Rafidah

Deputy Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has increased his nominations to 48 for the wing’s No 1 post after getting one from Kepala Batas - the division which is headed by his father-in-law and outgoing party president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Frontrunner Mukhriz Mahathir, son of former president Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has 70 nominations, while dark horse Dr Mohd Khir Toyo has 47 nominations - just one nomination behind Khairy.

Interestingly, Mukhriz has the nod from the Pekan division, which is headed by prime minister-in-wating Najib. This could be seen as a tacit support from the person who will soon become party leader.

As for Wanita chief, the movement’s deputy leader Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has bagged her 56th nomination despite not having stated her intention to fight the post.

She has already qualified to contest the Wanita No 1 post as 39 nominations are needed, but it is unclear whether she is willing to challenge ‘iron lady’ Rafidah Aziz.

rafidah aziz and shahrizat wanita umno leaders 201008 Rafidah, who has 94 nominations, has vowed to defend her Wanita chief post but agreed to hand over the wing’s leadership to Shahrizat in June next year.

At the same time, Shahrizat has 92 nominations to defend the Wanita deputy chief post while the movement’s executive council member Kamilia Ibrahim has qualified to challenge her after obtaining 41 nominations.

Other seeking the 20 nominations needed to fight the post are former Puteri leader Azalina Othman Said (10), Johor Wanita chief Halimah Sadique (2), Wanita exco member Dr Norraesah Mohamad (1) and Natural Resources and Environment Deputy Minister Maznah Mazlan (1).

Those divisions which have yet to meet will have until Nov 9 to complete their meetings. Meetings are mostly conducted during the weekends.