‘Phantom delegates’ in Gelang Patah, claims Khaled

All was not smooth in the Umno polls yesterday as there were irregularities claimed to have occurred in Johor and a physical fight

MERSING: The Johor Umno liaison committee has handed over a report on claims of ‘phantom delegates’ at the Gelang Patah Youth division delegates meeting and elections to the Central Election Committee, said its chairman Mohamed Khaled Nordin today.

“We’ve sent a report to the Umno headquarters and I’m sure Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin will decide on the matter. It’s up to the headquarters to decide on the validity of the meeting,” he said when met after the launch of the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) empowerment programme, here.

Commenting on the trouble which had caused the Gelang Patah Umno Youth division meeting to be postponed, he said the ‘phantom delegates’ issue came up when the number of delegates announced by Permanent Chairman Sahid Amun did not tally with the number of votes.

“I was given to understand that after his announcement there were more delegates registered. He made the announcement early in order to start the meeting,” he said.

The problem started when it was found that there were 194 delegates present but 205 ballot papers received. The former division chief Noorisham Ismail was also punched in the face by a candidate’s supporter.

It was a two-way tussle for the top post between Julnizam Janisan and Abdul Hamid Soaip. The result announced was in favour of Julnizam.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled said he was satisfied with the election proceedings of the Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings in the state.

The fact that many new candidates won showed the party’s democratic system was intact, he said.

“For Wanita, we have five new leaders while three incumbents lost. There are 23 new faces for the Youth and six in Puteri,” he said.

-Bernama