Some 140 Umno division leaders have called for the top two positions in the party to go uncontested.

According to the Malay daily Sinar Harian, their representative, Mohd Shafie Abdullah, said this was necessary to avoid a split in the party ahead of the six state legislative assembly elections expected to be held soon.

"Umno has to unite. We don't need a contest for the presidency and deputy presidency because we will be facing the six state elections next.

"All 140 division chiefs (gathered here) unanimously want the top two positions not to be contested. We hope the party president will accept our views," Shafie said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

There are 191 Umno divisions. They will have to hold their annual general meetings by May 19 this year and vote on a new party leadership.

According to Bernama, there were 126 Umno division chiefs who met last night at a hotel prior to Shafie’s press conference.

So far, former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has signalled that he will be challenging Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the Umno presidency.

Zahid became Umno president in 2018. During that contest, Khairy finished second and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah third.

Separately, Shafie said the 140 division chiefs are also urging Putrajaya to ensure that their former president Najib Abdul Razak, who is currently jailed for corruption, is given justice.

He said they were not asking for Najib to be freed but that the latter be allowed to review his sentence.

Najib has been serving a 12-year jail sentence since August last year after the Federal Court upheld his guilty verdict of having misappropriated RM42 million in funds from state-owned SRC International Sdn Bhd.

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