Wanita Umno info chief: Did BN leaders forget 30pct women candidates vow?

Dissatisfaction over BN's list of candidates continues to simmer, with another woman leader hitting out at the coalition's failure to fulfill a promise of fielding at least 30 percent of women candidates in the 15th general election (GE15).

Taking to Facebook yesterday, Wanita Umno information chief Norshida Ibrahim said the matter was repeatedly raised but yet ignored by decision-makers.

"Have the BN leadership forgotten how women candidates were a winning factor for the coalition?

"Have the BN leadership also forgotten that the promise will be claimed by all women and female voters in the country?" said Norshida, who is also Segamat Umno Women division chief.

Norshida (above) stressed that the Umno supreme council and BN supreme council should not have made a promise it did not intend to keep.

She said this in response to candidate announcements by BN, ahead of the official nomination day on Saturday that saw only 11 percent of women being fielded.

Despite the potential shown by Wanita Umno members, Norshida said the top leadership had refused to acknowledge them as candidates.

Norshida was reportedly nominated by Segamat Umno to be fielded in the seat. However, the candidate announcement by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Tuesday saw MIC's M Ramasamy retained to contest in Segamat, under the party’s quota.

Meanwhile, Wanita Umno chief Noraini Ahmad, when met at the Johor Umno headquarters in Johor Baru today, declined to comment on the matter.

Noraini, Azalina dodge questions

Noraini, who will be defending her Parit Sulong seat, instead merely smiled and shook her head when asked for a response to Norshida's criticisms.

Former minister Azalina Othman Said, who will be defending her Pengerang seat, also dodged the question, saying this should be answered by Noraini or Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan.

Incumbent Kuala Kangsar MP Mastura Mohd Yazid, who was dropped from BN's GE15 list, yesterday said not a single Umno Wanita candidate has been included in the list for parliamentary seats in Perak and Negeri Sembilan.

Of the 160 BN candidates announced for GE15 up until yesterday, only 18 are women, which works out to 11.25 percent.

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