Register all members as voters, BN parties told

Some 20 percent of the seven million members of the 13 BN component parties have yet to register as voters, BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today.

As such, all BN parties have been directed to step up efforts to ensure that their members register as voters before the next general election, he said.

This was decided at a meeting of secretaries-general and executive secretaries of the BN parties in Putrajaya today, he said.

"I called the meeting to discuss the matter as the registration of voters has been slow. We hope this (registration of voters) can be done," he told reporters.

Earlier, Tengku Adnan chaired the meeting, which lasted for about two hours from 11am, at the Marriot Hotel, here.

Adnan said the meeting was held on the directive of Prime Minister and BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak who had wanted all problems in the coalition to be resolved.

He said that after the meeting, the BN officials met with Deputy Prime Minister and BN deputy chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin to discuss preparations for the BN convention, scheduled for Nov 28 at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur.

The maiden convention would be chaired by Muhyiddin, he said.

Najib had said in June that the BN would hold a convention in November to strengthen the ruling coalition and to enable it to understand the expectations of the new generation.

A BN convention was planned for end-2008 or early 2009 during former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's leadership but it was postponed after the leadership transition plan was announced.

The convention was to have helped to reinvigorate the BN following its dismal electoral performance in 2008.

- Bernama