Zahid and Shafie qualify to contest veep posts

PETALING JAYA: Two contenders for the Umno vice-presidency posts have qualified as candidates.
Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal have now joined the ranks of Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein - all of whom have succeeded in obtaining more than 19 nominations for the three vice-president’s posts.
Incidently, Zahid received a PhD in communications during a Universiti Putra Malaysia graduation ceremony on Saturday.
As of 6pm Saturday, Hishammuddin managed to garner 35 nominations while Zahid and Shafie got 21 nominations each.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is inching closer to his eligibility as a candidate for the deputy president’s post with 34 nominations, of which he needed only four more nominations to qualify.
The other two deputy president contenders - Datuk Seri Ali Rustam and Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib - have so far gathered three nominations each.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak received 10 nominations for the party president’s post on Saturday (as of 6pm), increasing his overall tally so far to 40 nominations. While Najib looked set to win the party presidency uncontested, there were efforts by some divisions to mount a challenge by nominating others for the post.
In Bachok, some members tried to nominate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for the president’s post, but this was shot down as the leaders decided to vote through a show of hands instead of secret ballot.
At the Gelang Patah division, the delegates voted among three names for the president’s post. Najib received 179 votes, Muhyiddin got 39 votes and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah received 18 votes.
In Kota Kinabalu, Muguntan Vanar reports Shafie as saying that he was focused and ready for the contest.
“The uniqueness of the nominations this time is that the support is coming from the party grassroots.
“Most divisions held secret ballots to vote, so this gives me the confidence,” he said.
Shafie’s nominations didn’t only come from Sabah but also from Johor, Penang, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Kedah.

tunku : we hope the remaining divisions will give their nominations to other candidates so that they would be qualified. we will have choice then comes March 2009.Rais Yatim should be considered by the divisions for the vice president post.