Malaysia: UMNO to decide on PD by-election

• UMNO will decide this afternoon if it wants to contest in the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election, which will be held on 13 Oct 18. The decision will be made at the party’s political bureau meeting on 24 Sep 18, said Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan.
• The outcome will then be discussed at the Barisan Nasional level on 25 Sep 18, he added. PAS had previously said on 24 Sep 18 that it would contest in the by-election if Umno decided not to field a candidate against PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.
• PAS central general election director Ahmad Shamsuri Mokhtar, who is also Terengganu menteri besar, said PAS was ready to field its own candidate to prevent a walkover for Anwar, but this depended on Umno’s decision.
• Malay daily Berita Harian reported that Umno may not contest in the by-election, opting instead to work on building the party.
• The chairman of Umno’s council of advisers, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, had earlier advised the party to stay out of the by-election.
• He said the people’s negative perception of the party had not improved and election worker morale was low after the beating Umno took in the 9 May 18 general election.
• The seat has been traditionally contested by MIC under the BN banner, but the party has decided not to contest in this by-election. PKR has held this seat since 2008 general election.

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