Malaysia: Umno successfully amends party constitution to delay polls

• Umno has successfully amended its constitution in order to enable them to postpone party polls up to six months after a general election.
• The amendment was unanimously approved by 2,586 delegates during the Umno extraordinary general meeting (EGM) at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
• Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin had proposed the amendment, while fellow vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob had supported it.
• Khaled explained that the amendment will only affect three provisions in the party constitution, namely Articles 10.16, 15.3 and 18.2.
• Previously, Article 10.16 stated that the Umno supreme council has the power to postpone party polls up to 18 months from the date it was supposed to be held.
• The new amendment will add an additional provision that the supreme council can also postpone the polls, not more than six months after a general election, or whichever date is latest.
• “This means that aside from the previously allowed 18-month postponement, the supreme council after this also has the right to postpone party polls to a date not more than six months after a general election is held, depending on which date is latest,” Khaled said while tabling the amendment in the EGM earlier.
• Meanwhile, the amendments to Articles 15.3 and 18.2 are to affect the changes to the party polls process, as amended in Article 10.16.
• Previously, Umno can only postpone its election by up to 18 months. With the amendment, it now has the option to postpone up to 18 months from the end of its leadership’s term or up to six months after a general election, whichever comes later.

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