Gua Musang Umno division has nominated Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Shahrir Samad as candidates for party president and deputy president respectively.

umno 2007 tengku razaleigh ku li 081107 The nominations were made unanimously by the 384 delegates this morning during the annual general meeting held at Dewan Rakyat Bukit Cekati in Gua Musang this morning.

Though Tengku Razaleigh’s first nomination from his division which he had led since 1998 was expected, nomination for Johor-based Shahrir, also his first, is bound to raise eyebrows.

Both individuals were members of the so-called ‘Team B’ led by Tengku Razaleigh when the latter challenged Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the party presidency in 1987.

Back then, Razaleigh lost to Mahathir by a mere 43 votes.

umno nomination 2009 update 12 55 am 2nd november 2008 021108 During the same period, Tengku Razaleigh formed Umno splinter group Semangat 46, which Shahrir did not join but remained in Umno.

Shahrir has never been nominated as deputy president before and observers would be keen to see if other remaining divisions who have yet to hold their AGM will follow Gua Musang’s lead.

The domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, has not offered himself as a deputy presidential candidate, while this is the third time Tengku Razaleigh had offered himself as Umno president.

More surprises for VP race

In 2004, Tengku Razaleigh obtained only one nomination - also from Gua Musang - out of the 59 nominations required to qualify for the party president race.

It is likely that his Umno fortunes this year will be similar to his previous outing as incumbent deputy president Najib Abdul Razak has already secured 109 nominations to date.

As for the vice-president nominations, the Gua Musang delegates nominated former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad, former deputy finance minister Mohd Afifuddin Omar and Johor Wanita wing chief Halimah Sadique.

Gua Musang’s decision gave both Mohd Afifuddin and Halimah their first nominations for the post. Neither have offered themselves for the post and Halimah is currently vying for the Wanita deputy chief's post.

The nomination for Isa however gives him a total of nine nominations so far and he is still short of the 20 minimum nominations required to qualify for the race.

Nominations - latest results

Najib 116, Ku Li 1, Muhyiddin 69, Ali 25, Taib 22

Mukhriz 68, Khir 53, Khairy 51