Nazri: Umno members can decide if Zahid should lead

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will remain as Umno president as long as the party delegates want him to lead, said Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Although he acknowledged that it is Zahid’s prerogative not to take leave, the BN secretary-general said Umno members could call for a resolution as stated in Article 9.12 of Umno’s constitution to ask the president to step down.

Article 9.12 states that any supreme council member, including the president and deputy president, can be dismissed or that the supreme council can be dissolved by a special general assembly with votes of no less than two-thirds of the total number of members entitled to attend.

“It is entirely up to him (Zahid) in the first place to decide what to do, but you must remember he was elected by the delegates, so if Umno members want it (him to leave) they can have a movement at the grassroots to call for a resolution to ask him to go,” the former tourism and culture minister said when met by reporters at Parliament lobby today.

Zahid, since being charged on 45 counts of criminal breach of trust, bribery and money-laundering recently, has come under pressure to take leave or step down as Umno president.

- Bernama