Umno today sacked Juliana Awang Tambi who contested on a Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) ticket in the Sarawak election on April 16.

Najib Abdul Razak said that she was sacked in accordance with Clause 20.1 of the Umno constitution which states that anyone in the party  who contests in an election as an Independent or an opposition candidate shall lose his or her membership and can never be accepted back.

“So, based on this provision, her membership is immediately terminated,” he told a media conference after chairing an Umno supreme council meeting at Menara Dato Onn at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Juliana, who was a member of the Selayang Umno division, lost in a four-cornered fight in the Sarawak election, obtaining only 284 votes.

The prime minister and Umno president also said that the party now had 3,270,444 members, with the highest number in Sabah, Johor and Selangor.

“Sabah with 483,013 members, Johor 450,004, and Selangor 428,525 are the top three,” Najib said.

He said that Umno would once again sponsor an international conference during the assembly, with more representatives of political parties of other countries invited.

“The supreme council decided that the participation should be varied and cover more ruling parties or parties with standing in their countries.

“We will invite among others parties from Britain, Australia, Maldives, Madagascar, the United States, the European Union and the committee members of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP),” Najib said.

- Bernama