BN's second largest coalition partner MCA today goes to poll today to elect a new central leadership, in a bid to finally put to rest eight months of severe infighting.

mca egm 280310 chua duo Extraordinary general meeting chairperson Yip Phooi Hong convenes the proceedings beginning at 10am with the selection of election scrutineers, following which the 2,380 delegates would then be allowed to cast their ballots.

Voting will come to a close sometime in the afternoon, with the results scheduled to be announced at around 5pm.

Expectations are, however, that the declaration of winners will occur later due to the large number of central committee candidates.

mca egm election 280310 ong ka ting The counting process is expected to be a long arduous task as the ballots for 86 central committee hopefuls would be tabulated first, while the votes for the president's post would be tabulated last.

All eyes will be on the outcome of the presidential race between incumbent Ong Tee Keat, his estranged deputy Dr Chua Soi Lek and former president Ong Ka Ting.

The battle has been dubbed after the Chinese epic 'Romance of Three Kingdoms', a dramatised account of warring post-Han Dynasty kingdoms filled with tragedy, betrayal, deceit and strategy.

At the deputy level, Liow Tiong Lai faces off against Kong Chor Har.

mca polls 280310 ong tee keat Liow, aligned to Tee Keat, was among the staunchest proponents of fresh elections, while the low-key Kong is trying to move up another notch in the party hierarchy.

A record 10 candidates are vying for four vice-president posts while another record of 86 candidates will be vying for 25 central committee posts.

Delegates appeal for unity

The majority of delegates approached by Malaysiakini expressed hope that the elections would finally resolve the protracted party crisis and bring unity to the factionalism torn party.

"This is the best chance for the party to settle the factional fighting between Tee Keat and Soi Lek. Hopefully, this (election) would stabilise the party," said Pasir Salak division chief Cheong Wan Hong, who is openly aligned to Ka Ting.

NONE He said delegates are fed up with the party crisis, which has caused a lot of inconvenience to the party delegates because they have to attend two EGMs within six months.

Kota Tinggi division chief Ng Keng Heng, an ardent Soi Lek supporter, expressed hope that all quarters will accept the results of the elections and work towards unity.

He believes that Soi Lek's sex DVD scandal was no longer an issue as seen in the 2008 party polls, where he was elected deputy president and subsequently appointed as BN chief coordinator.

"Attacks against him for the DVD incident is just low class. We should sympathise with him. Even his family has forgiven him. The scandal did not involve another person's wife or girlfriend," he said.

Kelana Jaya division chief Ong Chong Swen said regardless who is elected president, he must be able to quickly meet faction leaders and work out a way to unite the party.

"I support Tee Keat (for this role). He is very firm. He acts without fear and favour. We share the same principles. We speak out against any injustice.