Both Negeri Sembilan Umno chief Mohamad Hasan and Umno supreme council member Johari Abdul Ghani were seen today at the party's headquarters to submit their forms to contest the posts of Umno deputy president and vice-president respectively at the coming party elections.

However, when approached, the duo denied that they were forming an alignment or pact for the June 30 elections.

Seen together with them were incumbent supreme council members Shamsul Anuar Nasarah and Hamzah Zainuddin.

Federal Territories Umno Youth chief Razlan Rafii was also seen submitting his forms to contest for a supreme council member's post.

The five of them had gathered at the lobby of Kuala Lumpur's Menara Dato' Onn before entering the party's office to proceed with their form submissions.

"I am all by myself for the time being. We wish to breathe fresh air into Umno so the members have a choice instead of being restricted in (choosing among) the factions," Mohamad (photo) said.

He will work with the candidate who wins the president post, he added.

Johari, meanwhile said he met Mohamad today by coincidence.

"I am here to submit forms for the vice-president's post," said Johari.

"No (alliance between me and Mohamad). Fact is, Umno cannot afford to be split among ourselves anymore," he said.

"So, we look at the party election as a friendly match among siblings. We should not have any friction," said the former finance minister II.

Mohamad admitted that there were calls for him to consider to run for the posts of Umno president and deputy president.

However, he felt it was more appropriate for him to contest the post of deputy president.

The priority for Umno is to get the party to resurface from its continued submerging, he said.

Razlan said he decided to contest as a supreme council member in order to inject the voices of the youth into Umno's main body.

"I believe this can be accepted by the grassroots, as they are anticipating a change in the Umno leadership," he said.

Razlan (photo) said his candidacy was agreed to by the Umno Youth exco members.

Following the resignation of Najib Abdul Razak as Umno president after the May 9 general election, a number of leaders have stepped up to offer themselves for the top posts in the party.

Umno acting president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has already announced his candidacy for the presidency.

However, so far only Mohamad has expressed his willingness to contest the post of deputy president.

As for the three posts of vice-president, Umno supreme council members Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, Shahidan Kassim and ousted Johor Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin have officially stated their interest for these posts.

Speculations have been circulating that former ministers Mustapa Mohamed, Mahdzir Khalid and Ismail Sabri Yaakob, as well as Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, were among those interested to run the for vice-president posts.

Nomination for the long-delayed party election has been fixed from June 1 to 17, while voting is to take place on June 30

When met at the lobby, Shahrizat declined to confirm if she planned to contest the post of vice-president.