Tomorrow is MCA's triennial 'party election' but the 49th annual general meeting is expected to be a tame affair as party matters will be sidestepped to ensure the continuance of the peace plan that has been set in place.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will officiate the event, accompanied by his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and leaders of other Barisan Nasional component parties.

A drastic increase of members over the past year translated into 2,805 delegates for this year's assembly from 2,384 delegates at the last AGM in 1999.

However, only about 2,600 are expected to turn up as many of the new posts of delegates created are still vacant despite earlier efforts to fill them all up.

In certain divisions, middle-ranking leaders aligned to different factions still disagree on how to allocate these delegate posts among themselves.

The effectiveness of the peace plan, proposed by Mahathir in April to end the year-long feud between party president Dr Ling Liong Sik and his deputy Lim Ah Lek, however, may be put to test tomorrow.

Bukit Bintang delegate Lim Lik Kai said he will express his dissatisfaction with the party president at the AGM.

'Joint-president post'

"Dr Ling said recently that though the party constitution only provided for four vice-chairmen at a division, it was okay for MCA Gombak to have seven as long as all parties are happy," he said.

"I am going to tell the president that not everyone is happy with him and I will demand for a joint-president post," he added.

Last month, Lik Kai filed his nomination paper to challenge Ling for the MCA presidency but it was struck out as the party had earlier decided that party polls would proceed but with no contest as per the peace plan.

It is believed that supporters of Ling will show up in full force to rally support for the party president.

However, minor disruptions, if any, will not stop the top leaders from being 'elected' into their posts for another three-year term as no ballot boxes will be provided.

The list of office bearers was already endorsed by the party central committee last month. It only needs to be read out by the Speaker and endorsed by the party delegates tomorrow.