Muhyiddin: How can Umno postpone party elections again?

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin today claimed that Umno was going against its own constitution by postponing their party elections yet again.

Muhyiddin, who was former Umno deputy president, said that the latest postponement goes against Clause 10.16 of Umno’s constitution.

Clause 10.16 states the Umno supreme council has the right to postpone party elections but that this postponement cannot exceed 18 months from the date of the supposed elections.

Though Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the Registrar of Societies (ROS) had approved the latest postponement, Muhyiddin questioned the legitimacy of this approval.

“Is it true what Tengku Adnan said about ROS allowing this extension? With this extension, does it not go against the law and the Umno constitution itself? The ROS should answer this,” Muhyiddin demanded at a press conference at the Bersatu headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

The ROS is only a regulatory body and does not have the power to supersede a party's constitution, he pointed out.

Umno had initially announced in 2015 that they would postpone party elections - which were supposed to be held the latest by October 2016 - by 18 months.

This meant that the party elections should be held latest by this April 19.

On Tuesday, Tengku Adnan had said that Umno was postponing their elections again, pushing it back by a year to April 19, 2019.

[More to follow]

- Mkini